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MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



•The 




THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY ■ CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



MODERN ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL PRACTICE 



BY 

GEORGE E. FREELAND 

SUPERVISOR OF PRACTICE TEACHING AND ASSISTANT PROFESSOR 

OF EDUCATION IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE 

FORMERLY PRINCIPAL OF THE TRAINING SCHOOL 

STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, GREELEY, COLO. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1919 

All rights reserved 



ut^. 






Copyright, 1919, 
By the MA.CMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1919. 



-4 1919 



NorinooU ^resg 

J. S. Gushing Co. —Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



'CU5 15779 



/^VVnX) 



I 



NORMAN TRIPLETT 



PREFACE 

In the following pages an attempt has been made to 
present to the common school teacher and the student of 
education the vital elements of modern practice in the 
elementary school^ illustrated in such a way as to stimu- 
late further use of the methods described. Theoretical 
ideals have been adapted to ordinary school work. Noth- 
ing has been advocated here which has not already had 
successful application and thorough trial. Every illus- 
tration is taken from classroom practice. 

Emphasis has been placed upon topics which the aver- 
age teacher needs to consider. Experience in supervising 
several thousand teachers in three different states has 
been the basis for conclusions as to what topics teachers 
need most to know about and to have illustrated. 

Educational theory developed in leading American 
universities has been made use of. Originality is claimed 
only for the selection of topics and for the illustrations. 
The many teachers and supervisors with whom I have 
worked should by all means be mentioned as a chief 
source of information and inspiration. 

Recognition for materials taken from other books or 
magazine articles has been given throughout the book. 

George E. Freeland. 

University of Washington, 
Seattle, Washington. 

vii 



^^f CHAPTER 

I The Application of Educational Theory 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



II The Problem Method 

Ill The Project 

♦^V Motives 

^ V The Doctrine ok Interest in Practice 

VI A School Subject TAU(;ni' 'I'iihoccjii Interebth 

VII Utilizinc a CoxMMON Interest 

VIII The Development of a Natural Interest 

IX The Selection and Emphasis of Subject Matt-er 

X Selection and IOvalua'iion in English 

^ XI Selection in Arithmetic, Spelling, and Writing 

XII Methods Which Foster Heai/ih . 

XIII Less Sedentary Pracjtkjes and Methods . 

XIV The Individual-Social I^alance . 

XV Methods of Adjusting School Work to Individ- 
ual Needs . . . 

XVI The Socialization of Instuuciion 



1-5 

6-44 

45-74 

75-9(> 

97-111 

112-140 

141-173 

174-188 

l89-2i2' 

213-235 

236-265^ 

266-290 

291-312 

313-340 

341-367 
368-404 



IX 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

American education has entered the experimental 
period. Already various problems pertaining to the con- 
struction of curricula and to methods of organizing 
schools and teaching the various branches of instruction 
have been subjected to critical examination according to 
scientific procedure. A considerable body of accurate 
data bearing upon the values of studies and economy 
and efficiency in educational practice has been secured. 
But what we have achieved thus far has served mainly 
to increase our interest in the experimental investigation 
of every phase of our educational work. Leaders of edu- 
cational thought are becoming convinced that the system 
of education developed by our forefathers^ while perhaps 
well adapted to the needs of their times, is not equally 
well adapted to the needs of our own time. But tradi- 
tional education still has many active and vigorous ad- 
herents ; there are those among us who maintain that the 
educational policies which we of to-day have inherited 
from our predecessors are the product of many centuries 
of trial and testing and we should be exceedingly slow to 
make modifications either in the subjects taught or in 
the manner of presenting them to pupils. The problems 
involved have become so subtle and complex that they 
cannot be disposed of by mere expression of opinion, and 

xi 



Xii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

this is the chief reason why there is a constantly deep- 
ening behef that we must assume the attitude of the 
unprejudiced investigator toward every vital question 
that is in dispute. 

In the experimental study of educational problems 
American investigators are following two plans which 
are complementary. In the first place^ complex situations 
are resolved into their component elements, and the 
various factors are each subjected to experimental treat- 
ment under controlled conditions so that the student can 
observe and record the behavior of the phenomena he is 
studying. It is hoped that in due course every perplexing 
problem in education may thus be broken up into its fac- 
tors and each brought under careful scrutiny so that its 
traits, force, and value may be determined. But parallel 
with this microscopic study of problems must run ma- 
croscopic investigation, — the investigation according to 
scientific method of the educational process as a whole. 
Investigators who are capable of such work must be con- 
stantly incorporating into a school as a unitary, living 
organism the results of the study of particular problems. 
It would not do to continue our schools according to the 
traditional program until investigators had studied every 
detail of the curriculum and methods of teaching and of 
organization of school systems, and then attempt to con- 
struct de novo a school based on the principles developed 
by this experimental investigation. These principles 
should be tested and embodied in school practice as fast 
as they are established by scientific inquiry. This is the 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xiii 

only effective way to determine whether the modifica- 
tions in educational procedure suggested by experimental 
study are feasible and whether they work out well in 
practice under the usual conditions environing American 
schools. 

The present volume comes under the macroscopic type 
of educational investigation. For many years Professor 
Freeland has served as superintendent and supervisor of 
schools and has had the direction of an elementary school 
connected with a college for the training of teachers. 
This school has been conducted in an experimental at- 
mosphere. Professor Freeland has kept in close touch 
with educational research throughout the world and he 
has been given freedom to test in his demonstration 
schools all new and apparently sound conceptions of edu- 
cational values and methods. This has given him an 
opportunity to determine what modifications in our tra- 
ditional practice are desirable and practicable at the 
present time. In the following pages he has presented 
his conclusions regarding these matters together with the 
data and arguments upon which they are based. 

This volume appears at a critical moment in the his- 
tory of the world. Our habits of life are being profoundly 
modified by the war^ and when peace comes again on earth 
we will be under the necessity of developing economical 
methods in all our activities. It is keenly felt, not only 
in America, but also in Canada, England, France, Italy 
and probably in Germany, that we must speed up edu- 
cationally ; and particularly we must avoid waste in all 



XIV EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

school work. We must strive to make every hour of 
a pupiFs time count effectively toward preparing him for 
the needs of life. We must eliminate topics which have 
been taught heretofore but which will not be of as much 
consequence in the future as other subjects which have 
not yet found a secure place in the course of study. We 
must investigate ways and means of teaching every topic 
in order to make it seem worth while to pupils and so that 
when they master it they can utilize it in solving one or 
another of the social, intellectual, esthetic, or industrial 
problems of daily life. So far as it can be done, we must 
arrange the work of the schoolroom in every detail so 
that pupils will like and not detest their tasks. Profes- 
sor Freeland treats all these matters in the spirit and 
according to the method of the unprejudiced searcher 
after truth. He gives the results not only of the investi- 
gations conducted in his own schools, but he compares 
the conclusions he has reached with those attained by 
other investigators. So the parent, teacher or layman 
who reads this volume will gain a clear view of the most 
reliable thought of the times concerning the studies which 
should be taught in our elementary schools and the most 
effective way to present them. He will also see how a 
school should be organized and conducted so as to de- 
velop the social impulses of pupils in order that they 
may cooperate with one another and live together in 
peace and harmony. 

M. V. O'Shea. 

The University of Wisconsin, 
August, 1918. 



MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



MODERIT ELEMEI^TARY 
SCHOOL PRACTICE 

CHAPTER I 

THE APPLICATION OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY 

Theory versus Experience 

The Practical View. There should be no gap between 
good educational theory and successful experience. 
Theory which cannot be applied is useless. Even though 
it point to necessary reforms and contain the accumulated 
wisdom of a century, theory must lie dormant until it 
falls into the hands of someone who can apply it or illus- 
trate it in such a way that others can use it. On the other 
hand, experience without theory is blind. A teacher may 
succeed in a way through pure intuition, but not for very 
long, and he is always liable to the grossest of errors. In 
order to achieve the highest success it is essential that a 
proper combination between theory and experience be 
made. The following cases are illustrative of a situa- 
tion which the modern educational world is striving to 
overcome : 

Illustrations of inadequacy from the side of theory : 
A large number of books have been written upon educational 
subjects. Many of them are useless because the authors have 

B 1 



2 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

not taken into consideration the actual school conditions under 
which their theories must be applied. Some are too critical 
and may be classed as entirely destructive. Some are too 
general and make no concrete applications. Others contain 
theory which would injure any school that tried to apply it. 

Many so-called "educators" appear to show a disdain for 
the practical work of the teacher. They teach their theory 
as a subject entirely apart from actual experience. The re- 
sults they aim at are such as ''the understanding of educa- 
tional terms, the acquisition of the author's viewpoint, the 
ability to quote authors, give definitions, etc." Such training 
in theory will, of course, be of little practical help. 

Illustrations of experience which needs a basis in theory : 

There was, a few years ago, a man in the middle west who 
was head of a department of rural schools in a normal school. 
His attitude toward all educational theory was one of suspicion. 
He considered that everj^thing in the preparation of a teacher 
was subordinate to experience, regardless of the conditions 
under which experience occurred. He lacked ideals and 
principles as well as the scientific viewpoint. He was a good 
illustration of a large body of teachers who are overbalanced 
on the side of experience. 

A teacher in a large city is fairly successful because of her 
intuition and personality. She insists that educational theory 
cannot be applied. She has discovered ways of doing things 
which are ''all her own." From experience she has found 
that they succeed. However, her disregard for educational 
theory and scientific experiments has caused her to commit 
many blunders. Her results are those that were desired a 
decade ago, but they are out of harmony with modern tend- 
encies. Her selection of subject matter is poor. She blunders 
in the direction of stressing the course of study to the disad- 
vantage of the health of the children; she does not recognize 
knowledge aside from the requirements for her room; she 



THE APPLICATION OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY 3 

knows nothing of socialization. The mistakes to which she 
is Uable could be continued through several pages. 

All of these illustrations are typical. They represent 
attitudes that are prevalent. Before we can help our 
schools very much we must have harmony between those 
who stand for theory and those who represent experience. 
Neither attitude, taken alone, is practical. 

The Significance of the Term '' Practice.'' Practice has 
come to have large significance in the professions of 
medicine and of law. It means theory which has been 
discovered and tried in successful experience. It is the 
aim of this book, as expressed in the title, to utilize the 
word ^^ practice/' with all it signifies, in a discussion of 
education. Experience alone cannot satisfy the demands 
of modern practice, and only theory which has been suc- 
cessfully applied can be called practice. 

The Modern Tendency to Study Practice. During 
the last decade the tendency to study schools and to try 
theories under actual school conditions has been growing 
rapidly. A great deal of our modern theory has been 
formulated in the schoolroom. The successful teacher 
and the superintendent of to-day look upon the school 
not only as a workshop in which certain educational re- 
sults are to be achieved, but also as a place where new 
ideas may be evolved and discoveries made. This has 
elevated the work of the teacher, for, with this viewpoint, 
he is no longer merely a workman with a daily routine ; 
he is also an explorer and a discoverer. 

The modern training schools in universities, teachers' 



4 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

colleges, and normal schools have been working to develop 
practice. Usually it is found that the student who has 
finished his courses in the subjects he is to teach and has 
taken all his educational theory cannot apply in the class- 
room what he has learned. The training school provides 
the opportunity to practice under sound supervision. A 
desire to realize all that is best in theory is usually a dom- 
inant motive here. When the student has been properly 
exposed to modern practice in such a school, his expe- 
rience has been worth more to him than several years at 
trial and error would be. 

The many recent surveys of schools and school sys- 
tems are another proof of the tendency to study practice. 
These surveys are valuable both for the suggestions of 
the surveyors and for the descriptions of the practices 
which were found most successful. McMurry's ^^ Ele- 
mentary School Standards/' ^ for example, is a most val- 
uable book because in it are incorporated descriptions 
of actual classroom practice with suggestions and illus- 
trations of ways to improve it. 

This Is a Period of Realization. We are now living in 
a period of realization. During the next decade the 
ordinary common school is going to participate in the 
fruits of the works of such educational leaders as Dewey, 
Hall, Judd, Cubberley, and others. There is a great call 
from teachers and administrators for concrete illustra- 
tions of practice which embodies the philosophy of great 
educational leaders and is in accord with scientific results. 

J Worid Book Co. 



THE APPLICATION OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY 5 

Many schools and school systems have already been able 
to put into practice ideals and theories that are bound to 
revolutionize the work of the regular common school. 
Such schools as the Francis Parker, the Horace Mann, 
and the schools of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Seattle, and 
many other large cities are doing work that should be re- 
ported in order that it may be known by teachers every- 
where. Teachers often declare theories to be impractical 
when they have already been practiced with success in both 
private and public schools. It is to acquaint the teacher 
and the student of education with such practice that this 
book has been written. 

The Trend of Modern Practice 

Advancement Has Been Along Four Lines. The modern 
school is developing its practice along four special lines : 

1. The development of a new methodology which 
works through the use of problems, projects, motives, 
and interests. 

2. The selection of subject matter that is worthy of 
the time and the efforts of pupils. 

3. Teaching in a way that will conserve rather than 
injure the health of children. 

4. The realization of an individual-social balance 
which will adjust itself to the needs of individuals and 
at the same time employ the social motive and satisfy 
the demands of the community. 

Practice in these four fields will be described in detail 
and illustrated concretely in the chapters which follow. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PROBLEM METHOD 

The Relation of the Problem to Other Phases of Method 

^^OuR chief concern is not for school subjects in these 
days of progress ; it is for children. There was a time 
when children were not considered, and the teacher 
taught arithmetic, grammar, or spelling. To-day these 
subjects are taught better than ever before because they 
are seen in their true values, — as so many different means 
of developing boys and girls. No teacher has the modern 
viewpoint unless he regards his problem as one of properly 
meeting and dealing with human beings rather than one 
of subject matter. He does not ignore the latter, but he 
makes it secondary to the former. 

Four special means have been developed in achieving 
the aim stated in the preceding paragraph : the problem, 
the project, motive, and interest. V The common points 
and peculiarities of these should be understood in order 
to use any or all of them properly. 

The Problem. The problem is used to appeal to and 
develop the child's thought.^ It is more important that 
a child learn to think than that he memorize subject mat- 

^ Thinking is used here to designate some form of organization, evalua- 
tion, and judgment on the part of the child. Concrete illustrations are 
given in the pages which follow. 

6 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 7 

ter. He memorizes in order to think better, but if he 
is not taught to think, his memory will be useless to him. 
Man is a thinking being and has reached his high state 
of existence through his thinking. We present the 
various subjects in the form of problems, therefore, in 
order to develop in the child the ability to think. 

The Project. The project may be defined in relation 
to the problem as something which the child is interested 
in doing and which may involve thinking, but need nob 
always do so. He may make a map as a project. If it 
involves much thinking, it may contain problems. He 
may wonder where sugar comes from and in solving this 
problem may take up several projects. 

Motive. The term ^^ motive " is applied to that part of 
a lesson which furnishes the child a reason for studying 
and reciting it. A grade card may be used to stimulate 
good work, but this is a type of motivation little used in 
the modern school. A desire for self-improvement, when 
properly established, furnishes a better motive. Motives 
may be used to make otherwise irksome tasks immedi- 
ately pleasant to children. In its modern sense the 
term has come to embrace anything that may be used as 
an incentive. The only danger in such usage is found 
in the tendency to ignore the more fundamental pur- 
posive motives which underlie all school work and to 
assume that the child's endeavor means nothing to him 
beyond the attainment of some specific immediate goal. 
In all school work there should be as much immediate 
pleasure as it is possible to bring about ; and motivation 



8 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

has been a large factor in making school tasks less irk- 
some to children. But there should also be definite 
reasons in the child's mind for doing his school work well 
even when there is no immediate motive for it. He 
should learn to work for the more remote motives as well. 

Interest. The broad term '^ interest " has been treated 
in the past in a very indefinite way. To secure it the 
school has found it necessary to develop its specific 
phases. Projects are organized interests. Interests are 
basic in the motivation of school work. Thus motives 
and projects are names for specific developments in the 
modern use of interest. However, aside from motives 
and projects, there should be retained a definite school 
procedure based upon the interests of the children. 

The Use of the Four Types. Wherever any of these 
four types of modern methodology have been treated, 
either in books or in magazine articles, there has usually 
been a confusion of terms. It has not been so dis- 
couraging, however, in practice as in theory. The con- 
fusion lies in the fact that these methods are insepa- 
rable in practice ; it is possible to separate them only in 
theory. Just as soon as concrete examples are furnished, 
confusion enters. The teacher who uses a problem has 
no reason for wanting to separate it from the projects, 
motives, or interests of the children. He has every rea- 
son for wanting to combine it with them. The lesson 
may primarily be a project, yet it should be interesting 
and well motivated. The proper stimulation of thought 
should also be brought about by presenting the various 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 9 

parts in problem form. We need not be alarmed, then, 
if we fail to keep these different features separate in prac- 
tice. In the chapters which follow they have been in- 
termingled freely. The chapter devoted to The Prob- 
lem Method, or that on The Project, merely uses the 
problem or the project as a central theme. The illus- 
trative material, which is taken from practice, contains a 
proper balance of the other phases of method. If the 
teacher makes suitable use of problems, projects, motives, 
and interests as the basis of his methodology, he need 
not fear if their exact division is somewhat confused in 
his practice. This is likely to be a good indication rather 
than a bad one. 

It is essential that a proper balance of these four 
be maintained. If the school employs any one of 
them to excess, results are likely to be one-sided. Too 
much of the problem procedure may develop a distaste 
for thinking. The project, if used to the exclusion of 
all else, is likely to become artificial. Motivation is 
chiefly used as a means, while the overuse of interest is 
likely to lead to a lack of seriousness. The exact amount 
of each is difficult to prescribe, but if we use all of them, 
our practice is not likely to suffer. 

Purposes, Results, and Limits of the Problem Method 

Developing the Ability to Think. As we go upward 
through the grades, we should find children growing in 
power of thought and in independence in attacking and 
solving the problems they meet in school and in life. 



10 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Much that is purely mechanical will be enjoyed by those 
in the four lower grades, and this is the place for most 
of the rote learning necessary to accuracy in English, 
arithmetic, and spelling. If the child masters the little 
intricacies of these subjects early in the curriculum, he 
will be free to turn more to the thought side of life in the 
upper grades. However, from the very beginning, the 
proper stimulation of independent thinking is worth 
while. In the upper grades emphasis should be placed 
upon thought although some drill should be retained. 
In the lower grades drill should be the chief method, but 
thought work should not be entirely neglected. Under 
such a scheme the child in the grades is often able to de- 
velop an insight into his books and the life that is 
going on around him that was not expected of the grad- 
uate of the high school a decade ago. 

This result is largely due to the development of the 
problem method. Work which was formerly a matter 
of assignment by the teacher, the recitation of the pupil 
minutely following his directions, is now left to be or- 
ganized by the pupil around some central problem which 
is a part of his own interests and life. He is in this way 
encouraged to do a great deal of thinking, and his recita- 
tions and examinations are marked from the standpoint 
of his ability to marshal facts, which means more than 
merely memorizing them mechanically. This function 
develops, with exercise, to a degree which the school, 
until recently, did not seem to realize. 

The why of events in history, reasons for institutions 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 11 

in civics, comparisons of places in geography, and the 
values to himself and others of everything about him 
should be made a basic feature of the child's instruction. 
This ability to compare, evaluate, understand, and con- 
clude is the larger mental power of which memory is 
only an important part. 

Results of Mechanical Method Compared with Those 
of Thought Method. The results of the thought method 
become evident whenever there is opportunity to com- 
pare children who are thus trained with others who have 
been unfortunate enough to be trained in a school which 
employs the old mechanical method exclusively. At 
a recent summer session opportunity for such com- 
parison was afforded by the heterogeneous enrollment of 
children from several schools. The backward, depend- 
ent attitude of some and the thoughtful, aggressive 
initiative of others were in such contrast, both in the 
schoolroom and on the playground, that we decided to 
look for the cause. With but few exceptions it was 
found that these traits had been developed by the methods 
used in their respective schools. 

Some of the children seemed to depend so much upon 
adult guidance that they were hardly able to get into the 
school building without first being formed into lines, and 
when reciting they were dependent upon the teacher's 
constant leadership. They had no specific wants, pur- 
poses, or desires of their own that were in any way con- 
nected with the work of the school. A usual complaint, 
when asked a question which it took some thought to 



12 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

answer, was, " I do not understand what you want/' 
and a common question, after a feeble attempt, was, " Is 
that what you want? " The wants of the teacher were 
their only incentive, and to satisfy them was the sole aim 
in reciting. They could do very well outside the realm of 
independent thinking. Rules of grammar (exact book 
definitions), the multiplication tables, and spelling in 
vertical columns had been their chief mental diet, and 
all such work they did exceptionally well. When it 
came to applying these mechanics, however, they were 
lacking. 

Dangers of Superficial Thought Methods and of Over- 
rationalization Admitted. When one speaks of teaching 
children to think many practical teachers are likely to 
suspect him of advocating a regime in which immature 
minds, without proper training, are allowed to grapple 
with problems and questions that are beyond them, and 
in which the necessary grounding in the mechanics of the 
common branches is ignored ; the result being a product 
which is fairly glib at discussing in a shallow way most of 
the great issues of the day, but is inefficient, unstable, 
and incapable in every line of endeavor. Some over- 
enthusiastic believers in rationalization, it is admitted, 
have stood for a program that would bring about such 
results, but the school that properly employs the thought 
method is successful from the mechanical side as well. 
There is a difference, however, between the ihechanics 
and the fundamentals in the modern school and those in 
the school of our fathers or in schools which still cling 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 13 

to traditional methods and subject matter. This differ- 
ence is found in the care that is used in determining the 
relative importance of different mechanical facts. The 
modern interpretation is that many of these facts are 
not fundamental to any useful accomplishment ; form- 
erly everything that fell under the heading of grammar, 
arithmetic, spelling, or history, was taught regardless of 
its use. 

There is a tendency in some schools to over-rationalize 
the mechanics of arithmetic, for example. The effort to 
develop addition, subtraction, division, and multiplica- 
tion through reasoning often approaches a condition 
which has fittingly been described as ^^ painful." There 
should be some thought work to establish in the child's 
mind the basic arithmetical concepts. But for the most 
part these concepts will not be fully formed until he has 
become a man. There is no reason for assuming that he 
should fully understand everything that is taught him. 
All of us make use of laws and principles every day about 
which we know very little. 

We must properly evaluate thought, else our methods 
will become as bad from the thought side as were those of 
the old school from the mechanical side. It is best in 
many activities not to stop to think. Rather than to 
attempt to explain at every step, the modern way is to 
connect that which is purely mechanical with some 
problem or interest of the learner. The drill thus be- 
comes a means to an end and is used to supplement the 
child's thought. 



14 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Characteristics of the Problem 

Establishes Habits of Independence. The problem 
should be used to exercise initiative, power of organiza- 
tion, and independent thinking. It teaches the pupil 
to use his own intellect in arriving at conclusions ; the 
books he has read, the words of the teacher, and his ex- 
perience being nothing more than valuable aids. School 
problems and those met with in life should be united as 
much as possible, so that the child will carry his think- 
ing attitude out into the world with him. 

Children Ask Intelligent Questions. One of the char- 
acteristics of a problem lesson is the intelligent questions 
of the children. In the old school the teacher asked all 
the questions, and a recitation was used to discover how 
well the child had mastered the subject matter of the text- 
book. To-day the children are doing a great deal of the 
questioning and the teacher must be well prepared in order 
to help and direct them. When this type of lesson is 
properly conducted, the teacher's knowledge is taxed to 
a much greater extent than it is when he does all the 
questioning and holds the discussion closely within the 
limits of a few pages in a text. 

Teacher in Background. Another significant change 
which this method has brought about is noted in the rise 
in prominence of the part played by the class as com- 
pared with that played by the teacher. He is no longer 
the center, but keeps in the background as much as pos- 
sible. The children are made to feel that they are doing 
the work and that they are responsible for its success. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 15 

The child is taught that his recitation must be satisfac- 
tory to himself and his fellows as well as to his teacher. 
School work conducted after this plan is bound to re- 
sult in more independence on the part of the children. 

Rational Memory Developed. The problem method 
does not neglect memory but uses it to some definite pur- 
pose. In addition to recognizing fully the value of 
mechanical memory it exercises and develops the rational 
memory. Thus^ while textbook definitions are not to 
be memorized; the child is required to understand these 
definitions and give them in his own words. Following 
this he is given constant opportunity to apply them. 
The ability to relate and group facts, to remember them 
because they are connected with something of importance 
to him, is the problem's contribution to the child's mem- 
ory training. After considerable training of this nature, 
he is able to read and remember the contents of entire 
books. 

Longer Individual Recitations. The use of the problem 
furnishes opportunity for longer individual recitations. 
When the attention must be focused for the organiza- 
tion of a recitation to last several minutes, all the mental 
powers employed receive their full share of exercise. 
The results of class work in which the children merely 
answer the questions of the teacher, often by one word, 
and rarely by more than a sentence, cannot be very ex- 
tensive or lasting. Opportunity must be given each child 
to formulate and give a good long recitation as often as 
the time and the needs of the class will permit. 



16 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The Problem Assignment 

One of the most common uses of the problem is its 
use in the assignment of lessons. It establishes some- 
thing specific for the child to think about and gives him 
exercise in selecting the materials which will best serve 
the ends in view. A commonly used mechanical method 
of assigning a lesson in geography is as follows : 

''Read from pages 12 to 17 in your texts and be ready to 
report on what you find there." 

But the problem assignment makes an appeal to the child 
from the standpoint of something definite that is worth 
attending to and about which he may gain information 
by reading his text. 

The following problem, for example, was one given a 
sixth-grade class in geography : 

To-day we have been studying the location of Kansas as a 
representative of the central states in relation to Washington 
as a representative of the Pacific states. (Washington being 
the home state, it and the Pacific group were studied first and 
made the basis of all comparisons.) 

To-morrow we shall discuss industrial relations and trade 
between these two sections. 

Consider the following suggestions in your work : 

1. Compare the products and discover, if you can, why 
both sections grow some crops that are the same, while some 
things are grown in one section that are not grown in the 
other. 

2. Note trade relations which might come from outside 
connections. As an illustration take Washington's connections 
with the Orient. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 17 

3. Study the railroad routes, the difficulties of trans- 
portation, freight rates (these may be obtained by the teacher, 
or even better by a member of the class from the local freight 
agent), and think of the possibilities of profit and loss from 
shipments both ways. Might it not be better to pay more 
for some of the products usually obtained from Kansas and 
buy nearer home ? 

4. Look into the manufacturing industries of each sec- 
tion, and see if you can find any value in trading with Kansas 
from this standpoint. 

Please continue this problem along other lines than 
those suggested. You will find material in your text on pages 
17-21, 96-104, and 208-210. I have on my desk several 
books which will furnish further information. Anyone who 
finds time is welcome to use them. You may also find valu- 
able material in magazines or newspapers. In our geography 
collection you will find : 

1. A number of post cards on which are descriptions of 
some Kansas cities and industries. 

2. Samples of products from Kansas. 

3. A catalogue of railroad and steamship folders. 

In addition to these sources of information you may 
be able to find some one who has been to Kansas who can tell 
you of conditions there. If there is anyone in the class who 
has been through the central states or has lived there, his 
knowledge may be able to help us very much in the solution 
of our problem. ^ 

Advantages in Problem Assignment. These two il- 
lustrations reveal the following advantages of the prob- 
lem assignment over the page assignment : 

^ This assignment may seem burdensome for the teacher, but, after 
learning to handle lessons from the problem standpoint, such an assign- 
ment is no more difficult than naming so many pages. 

c 



18 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

1. The problem of industrial relations furnishes a 
center around which the lesson is organized. 

2. Individual effort is encouraged. The pupil is given 
opportunity to choose various means of obtaining infor- 
mation and is not tied down too closely. He is even 
encouraged to launch out for himself and attack the 
problem in a new way and to search for sources of informa- 
tion which have not already been suggested. 

3. The textbook is not too closely followed nor is it 
discarded. It is used to the fullest possible extent ^ but 
it is not allowed to limit the teacher or the children. 
This is a feature of instruction which every teacher 
must work out for himself. A wise use of the text, 
not allowing himself to be dominated by it, necessitates 
his constant attention and effort. 

4. Opportunity for weighing values was furnished to 
both teacher and pupils. This is a very important 
feature of the thought method. The teacher must select 
and reject subject matter if the most valuable material 
is to be given to the class. The children also must 
be given constant opportunity to exercise their intellects 
in choosing objects upon which they will concentrate 
their energies. By learning to employ their time prop- 
erly they receive good lessons in self-mastery. The 
ability to recognize and disregard the unimportant is 
necessary to success in any field. 

5. Sufficient material was furnished so that the bright- 
est child had opportunity to do his best, while the state- 
ment of the problem did not impose any standard upon 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 19 

the average and slow children which would discourage 
them. 

Results Come Slowly 

Degree of Definiteness Varies. This assignment may 
have been made more definite, or it may have allowed 
even greater freedom to the children. The ability and 
disposition of the class must be the chief factors in deter- 
mining just how specific the assignment shall be. .One 
or two specific questions or suggestions which may cause 
a major or a few minor problems to be the center of the 
lesson may be sufficient. The following are illustrations 
of such suggestions in history : 

1. What was the immediate cause of the Civil War? 
What was the general cause? Why do you think as you do? 

2. Compare the North and the South at the beginning 
of hostilities : 

a. In industries, b. In agriculture, c. In man power. 
d. In ideals. 

Sometimes it is beneficial to stimulate the problem at- 
titude by the method of stating the assignment. For 
example, the child may be asked to " prove " proposi- 
tions. The following are illustrations from a seventh 
grade class : 

Prove that the democratic ideas of Jefferson were a 
necessary and a good influence at the time he was elected 
President. In order to prove their values, you will, of course, 
need to know what they were and the conditions of govern- 
ment at the time. 



20 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

A much less difficult assignment was furnished another 
seventh grade in the questions : 

1. Would you have voted for Jefferson? Why? 

2. What effect do you think the death of Hamilton had 
upon politics at the time? 

You will be expected to discuss these points intelli- 
gently and to know the facts concerning them as reported in 
the book, as well as to give your own opinions. 

In geography a teacher gave as an initial assignment on 
Holland the following : 

Holland is a very small country, yet it is very important. 
Study your lesson with this in mind. You can find out why 
this is true in your books which tell of Holland. 

It has long been the custom in leading schools to 
stimulate thought in reading by allowing the child to 
look for something in the story and to acquire his prac- 
tice in reading by reporting it. Such a method may be 
used even in the first grade. Instead of saying, ^^ Henry, 
read the next," the teacher says, " Henry, tell us what 
the Little Red Hen said to the Pig " ; or, '' Will you all 
look carefully and see who will be ready first to tell us 
what Big Jumbo said to the Camel? " Unquestionably 
such a procedure is upon a much higher plane than the 
purely mechanical " next " or ^^ page so and so." 

The teacher should understand that if a class has 
previously been held down to prescribed pages, he must 
not expect the same results as from a class that has been 
trained in organization and thinking. Right here lies 
one of the most common causes of failure. After a few 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 21 

attempts without any reaction on the part of the chil- 
dren, the teacher often goes back to the old way. As 
one young teacher in our recent summer session expressed 
it, she had " tried the problem method and it didn't 
work." 

Inexperienced Classes Need More Direction. A wise 
course to follow is to make the first assignments of this 
kind very definite. Page and paragraph under each 
reference may be given. Thought and reaction will be 
stimulated by asking a series of questions on each point. 
As the class develops independence, less specific assign- 
ments should be given. Finally the place may be reached 
where only the statement of the problem is necessary, 
and the children will have developed the initiative and 
ability to find the parts of their texts, references in books 
and magazines, and materials in school and outside which 
give the information they desire. Following this they 
evaluate the information and organize it, bringing the 
different facts to bear upon the problem as it exists at the 
time, discussing present needs and possible future de- 
velopments. Perfection in this work cannot be attained 
in the ordinary elementary school and is often not at- 
tained in the college. However, it will be surprising to any 
one who has not been in close contact with the work to 
see how much ability of this nature an elementary school 
class will develop. 

Teacher Must Learn to Organize and to Think. The 
teacher who tries the problem method for the first time 
must not expect to find his own work as easy as is the page 



22 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

assignment. He will have to know his subject matter 
better, and he must be acquainted with the sources of 
information. He also may find it very hard to evaluate 
and organize, for probably his own training did not de- 
velop these abilities. Like that of the class, his ability 
will grow with experience. It may take years to learn to 
conduct a class in such manner that each child will be 
properly stimulated and the class be given freedom but 
at the same time held to suitable, definite requirements. 
The best the young teacher can do is to try. In any 
case little will be lost by breaking away from the page 
method. 

Lack of Materials No Excuse for Using Page Methods. 
Lack of materials is often given as a reason for not at- 
tempting this kind of work. But whatever the local 
situation may be, even if the text is the only book ob- 
tainable, the problem is always adjustable, and it is bet- 
ter to use the one book to develop independence and 
initiative in finding and applying the information it con- 
tains than to read and recite it by pages. The materials 
used in the assignment given for illustration are obtain- 
able in any locality. If the school has no collections or 
museums, a week's effort by the teacher and pupils will 
usually result in a very creditable beginning. By keep- 
ing a good lookout and adding constantly to what is on 
hand the teacher can soon have a suitable collection of 
railroad folders, booklets of information about various 
parts of the world and its industries, post cards, and 
sample products. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 23 

Further Illustrations in Geography 

The illustrations which follow have been found valu- 
able in certain localities. They are given only to indi- 
cate in a concrete way just how the method is applied to 
various types of subject matter. The problems used in 
any community should be related to local industries, 
interests, government, or other features. When it is 
possible, the problems should be discovered by the class, 
but this cannot be expected at first. A superior teacher 
is always on the lookout for problems. They are never 
lacking. As the painter discovers scenes and the writer 
finds stories, the real teacher discerns great lessons in 
what the uninitiated call commonplace. 

Grade four. Home geography, including the local town 
or city, county, and state, should be studied in this grade. 
These problems are taken from the neighborhood of Greeley, 
Colorado. 

1. The locational and industrial relation of city to the 
surrounding country. 

2. The same for the city and surrounding country (home 
county) and the rest of the state, with a few relations to the 
whole United States. 

3. In the study of industrial relations the sugar industry, 
being especially important in this place, is studied in detail. 
A large number of problems are solved in following it. Some 
of them are : 

The problems that arise in planting and cultivation. 

Soil, care, and obtaining labor. 
Harvesting (problems involved and how they are met). 
The relation between the farmer and the factory. 

Not considered in all its legal details. 



24 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Making sugar. 
Factory visited. 
Sirup made at school. 
Care of sugar. 

Some of the problems met with in selling it. 
The values and uses of sugar. 
Value of this industry to the home locality. 
People employed. 
Money circulated. 
4. Other industries and products are considered with- 
out going into so much detail. The amount of detail depends 
upon the time that is left after finishing the foregoing. 

Another illustration of the problem method in home 
geography is that furnished by a school in a small western 
town. The teacher, after carefully planning the problems, 
took her class to the grocery store. There they came in 
contact with the products of the local industries and 
raised many questions which were given them as problems 
to w^ork out for their school work, the teacher being care- 
ful to select only those problems that would lead to a 
wide acquaintance with the field which she already had 
planned to cover. The following is a sample problem : 

Canned goods. 

On the shelves were found but two brands, ''Sun- 
burst" and "Kaw Chief." 

Where were these canned? 
Why only these two? 

Groceryman questioned, said it was due to the 
location of the wholesale houses and to the railroad connec- 
tions. 

Railroad lines followed, and the cities studied. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 25 

Why were these cities the center of the canning in- 
dustry ? 

This led to the question of just what was canned. 
It was found that corn was canned several hundred 
miles from the home town, and was also one of the chief crops 
of their locality. 

Why was not corn canned in their home town? 
And so on did this apparently insignifimnt problem 
of canned goods on the shelves of the village grocery store 
lead them. 

Fifth grade problems. North America, the northwest and 
north central section under special consideration for the week. 
Lurnbering a type industry. 

A lumber yard is visited. Here the children take down 
in their notebooks all the different kinds of lumber, their 
values, and the various ways in which the lumber is cut : lath, 
shingles, flooring, and siding. 

The problem of where the boards came from and how they 
were brought to this yard is projected. 

Geographies and other books read, teacher questioned, 
and lumber dealers questioned. 

After several of the lumber centers have been discov- 
ered by them, they locate them on their maps, consider approxi- 
mate distances, get freight rates, look up railroad connections 
on their railroad folder maps. 

How were these boards taken from the trees ? 

Lumbering in the great woods studied through 
pictures on post cards, reading in texts and in other books. 
Transportation of lumber to mills. 
How does the lumberman live? If possible a man 
who has been a lumberman, or some one in the community 
who has been in lumber camps, should be consulted. Often 
the children are able to prevail upon this person to come and 
speak to the school. 



26 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Other large problems which grow out of this and 
which may be taken up if time permits are : 

The different kinds of mills for cutting lumber, 
shingles, and lath ; 

The protection of the forests. Bring in as much of 
the work and preparation of the forest ranger as appears 
profitable. 

All of the above, it must be kept in mind, arises out of 
a visit to a lumber yard in the child's own neighborhood, 
thus connecting this vast industry and the country it 
covers with his ow^n home. After such a visit he thinks, 
reasons, remembers, and reads, and questions everyone 
who can give him information. Every time he passes 
this lumber yard he looks upon it with new interest, and 
his own home town seems more a part of the great world 
about w^hich he studies at school. 

The Weather May Stimulate Thought. A hot day 
may be made the basis of thought and study that wall 
reach to the ends of the earth. The temperature is taken 
during every hour of the day by a committee appointed 
from the class. The length of the day and the length of 
the night are noted. The time of year is considered. 
A basis for comparing these conditions wdth those of 
other parts of the world is formed. 

A rainy day may be used in like manner. A commit- 
tee measures the rainfall for the day. The extent of 
the local storm is studied. This is followed by a study 
of storm conditions throughout the w^orld. The reports 
of rainfall for different months in various sections of the 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 



27 



COMPARATIVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES 





Dec. 


1 
Jan. 


Feb. 


Mar. 


Apr. 


May 


Jun. 


Jul. 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct.' 


Nov. 


Greenwich, England. . . 
Olympia, Wash. . . . 


40 
41 


38 
39 


40 
40 


42 
44 


47 

49 


53 
55 


60 
59 


63 
62 


62 
63 


57 
57 


50 
50 


43 
44 


Isle of Wight, England . . 
Aberdeen, Wash 


43 
41 


41 
40 


42 
41 


43 
44 


48 
48 


53 
53 


59 
57 


62 
60 


62 
62 


59 

58 


53 
52 


48 
45 


York, England 

Victoria, British Col. 


38 
41 


38 
39 


39 
40 


41 
43 


45 
47 


50 
53 


57 
57 


60 
60 


59 
60 


55 
55 


48 
50 


43 
44 


Cambridge, England 
Tacoma, Wash 


38 
40 


38 
38 


39 
40 


42 
44 


46 

48 


52 
54 


58 
59 


62 
63 


61 

58 


57 

58 


49 
50 


43 
44 


Plymouth, England . . . 
Toledo, Oregon .... 


43 
45 


42 
43 


43 
44 


44 
46 


48 

48 


52 
53 


58 
57 


61 
61 


61 
60 


58 
59 


51 
54 


47 
49 


Valentia, Ireland .... 
Bandon, Orego* .... 


45 
47 


45 
45 


45 
45 


45 

47 


48 
50 


52 
53 


56 
57 


58 
58 


59 

58 


56 
56 


51 
52 


48 
49 


Edinburgh, Scotland 
Olga, Wash 


40 
41 


39 
39 


40 
40 


41 

43 


45 

47 


50 
53 


56 
57 


58 
59 


58 
59 


54 
55 


48 
50 


43 

44 


Aberdeen, Scotland . . . 
Pt. Crescent, Wash. . 


38 
38 


38 
36 


38 
37 


40 
40 


44 
45 


48 
49 


54 
53 


57 
56 


56 
56 


53 
52 


47 

47 


42 
42 


Braemar, Scotland . . . 
Pt. Simpson, British Col. . 


35 
37 


34 
34 


35 
35 


36 
38 


40 
42 


46 

48 


52 
53 


54 
56 


54 
57 


49 
52 


43 
47 


38 
40 


Hebrides, Scotland . . . 
Tatoosh Island, Wash. . . 


43 
43 


42 
41 


41 
41 


41 
44 


44 
46 


48 
50 


52 
54 


55 
56 


55 
56 


53 
54 


47 
50 


45 
46 


Nantes, France 

Roseburg, Oregon .... 


41 
42 


40 
41 


42 
43 


45 
47 


51 
51 


56 
57 


62 
61 


66 
66 


65 
66 


60 
61 


53 
54 


45 
46 


Roscoff, Brittany, France 
Astoria, Oregon .... 


46 
44 


45 
41 


45 
43 


46 
46 


50 
49 


53 
54 


58 
59 


61 
61 


62 
62 


59 
59 


55 
54 


49 

47 


Paris, France 

Washougal, Wash. . . . 


37 
39 


36 
37 


39 
40 


43 
45 


51 
52 


56 
55 


62 
60 


65 
65 


64 
65 


59 
60 


51 
53 


43 

47 


Helgoland, Germany. 
Kuper Is., British Col. . . 


38 
40 


36 
38 


35 
40 


37 
41 


43 

47 


50 
52 


57 
59 


61 
62 


62 
62 


58 
56 


51 
49 


42 
42 


Lille, France 

Nanaimo, British Col. . 


37 
40 


36 
36 


38 
39 


42 
42 


48 
47 


54 
54 


60 

58 


63 
64 


63 
63 


59 
57 


51 
50 


42 
43 


Brussels, Belgium. . . . 
Tzouhalem, British Col. 


36 
39 


34 
35 


36 
39 


40 
42 


47 

48 


53 
53 


60 

58 


63 
63 


62 
62 


58 
56 


49 
49 


41 
44 


Utrecht, Holland .... 
Matsqui Prairie, Br. Col. . 


36 
36 


34 
34 


36 
36 


39 
41 


46 

48 


53 
54 


60 
59 


63 
63 


62 
62 


57 
56 


48 
50 


40 
41 


Kiel, Germany 

Quamichin, British Col. 


37 
39 


34 
35 


34 
36 


37 
42 


44 
47 


52 
54 


60 
59 


63 
63 


62 
62 


56 
55 


49 
49 


40 
43 


Koenigsberg, Germany . 
Bella Colla, British Col. . 


29 
31 


27 
25 


27 
29 


32 
36 


42 
44 


52 
52 


60 
57 


63 

62 


62 
61 


56 
54 


46 
45 


35 
36 


Leipzig, Germany .... 
Linnville, N. C. (Mts.) . . 


32 
32 


31 
31 


37 
30 


46 
40 


54 
46 


62 

58 


65 
63 


63 
66 


57 
65 


57 
59 


47 
49 


37 
40 


Karlsruhe, Germany . 
Stuttgart, Germany . 


34 
33 


33 
33 


36 
36 


41 
41 


49 
50 


56 
56 


63 
63 


66 
66 


65 
65 


59 
59 


49 
50 


40 
40 


Highlands, N. C. (Mts.) . 


35 


34 


35 


42 


50 


58 


65 


67 


66 


60 


51 


42 


Nuremburg, Germany . 
Oakland, Md. (Mts.). . . 


30 
29 


29 

28 


32 
26 


38 
37 


46 
46 


54 
56 


61 
64 


64 
66 


63 
65 


56 
61 


46 

48 


37 
37 


Gratz, Austria 

Deer Park, Md. (Mts.) . . 


28 

28 


26 
26 


31 
25 


38 
37 


48 
45 


56 
57 


62 
63 


65 
67 


63 
65 


57 
60 


48 
48 


36 
37 


Czernowitz, Austria . 
Somerset, Pa. (Mts.) . . . 


26 

28 


23 
26 


25 
26 


35 
36 


47 
46 


58 
57 


65 
65 


68 
68 


67 

67 


59 
61 


48 
49 


35 
39 



Data like the above should form the basis for a rational understanding of comparative 
features in different parts of the world. The child should not memorize these figures but 
should use them in his thinking. Extremes of temperature are better than these averages. 



28 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

world are studied; and the child learns the moisture con- 
ditions of his locality as compared with those of other 
places in his own country or even on the other side of 
the world. 

Combine the rainfall and heat reports (not average but 
monthly); and the child will have a means of determining 
the crops that may be grown in distant places. After 
predicting what may be grown in a certain place; the 
pupils read in the text to find how near the pi'ediction is 
correct. When they are mistaken, the problem of why 
they misjudged is a good one. Fifth and sixth grade 
children who have studied the farm products of one 
locality are quick to see that another with almost iden- 
tical rainfall and temperature is likely to grow the same 
even though it is far distant. 

Sixth grade problem. Foreign countries are to be studied. 
A boy who has a good stamp collection is asked to bring it 
to school. This projects the problem of governments different 
from our own, yet having direct postal relations with us. 
Letters may be written by the class to some of the different 
countries. A letter directed to the U. S. Consul asking in- 
formation about his neighborhood is likely to receive a reply. 

A rubber tire made at Akron, Ohio, may serve to project 
a problem connecting the home town through that city with 
South America. 

Materials Must Be Selected with Care. Any thought- 
ful teacher will be able to find plenty of materials in his 
home community to connect it with almost any part of 
the world. There are several distinct aspects of proper 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 29 

dealing with this material in order to assure success in 
its use. They are : 

1. Materials which it will be possible to follow must 
be chosen. 

2. Those which have the widest connection with the 
places or industries which the teacher has planned to 
consider^ and those which are likely to provide greatest 
opportunity for thought work and individual investiga- 
tion should be selected. 

3. The reference material must be gathered and pre- 
pared by the teacher in order that the class need not 
waste time in searching for it or overlook it entirely. 

4. The materials that are to be studied should be 
organized by the teacher at the beginning of the term, so 
that they will be properly related and fit into his course 
of study. It would be impossible to succeed in this type 
of work by bringing in things from the community merely 
because they have a connection with the rest of the world 
without first considering the relation of such problems to 
the other work of the school. 

Problems in Arithmetic 

Arithmetic Primarily a Mechanical Subject. Arith- 
metic has been very much overestimated as a thought- 
developing subject. It demands a specialized type of 
abstract association rather than thought in the modern 
sense of the word. The modern thinker is one who 
works in the world of action rather than in the abstract, 
and his thought employs mathematics as a means of 



30 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

solving the larger problems depending upon arithmetic; 
geometry, calculus, or trigonometry. The study of arith- 
metic can aid in developing such ability only in the meas- 
ure that it is brought to bear upon problems which the 
children find in the world about them. 

Most arithmetic work should be recognized as purely 
mechanical. In this respect it is little different from 
spelling. We must insist upon children learning how to 
add, subtract, multiply, and divide; and the only way 
to learn is to practice. There is little reasoning in learn- 
ing to multiply fractions or to add decimals, and only a 
slight difference is found between work of this type and 
the solution of problems in interest after the method has 
been explained. If the child forgets the method, he 
must learn it again. His success depends entirely upon 
his memory. 

Subject Valuable but the Chief Method Is Drill. This 
attitude in no way minimizes the value of this subject, 
which provides an essential mechanical basis for business, 
engineering, farming, and most of the activities of civ- 
ilized life. However, we will be more successful in 
teaching it if we recognize that the chief method should 
be drill ; motivated, to be sure, in every possible way, 
but, nevertheless, drill. This necessitates a large use of 
problems in the four fundamentals, and in fractions, 
decimals, percentage, interest, and mensuration, selected 
so as to provide exercise in the measure that the chil- i 
dren show a need for it. These problems may be pro- 
vided by the teacher and written on the board each day, 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 31 

but it will be a saving of time to select them from some 
good text. 

Life Problems. However, in addition to this work, a 
large amount of exercise in concrete thinking should be 
provided. The child, while developing the ability to 
solve the artificial problems furnished by his teacher or 
text, should be taught to think of the application of the 
ability he is acquiring to the larger problems of life. If 
he realizes that his progress in percentage will be a direct 
help in the problem of saving money ; that his ability to 
solve problems in interest may be used in advising his 
parents whether or not to buy a piano on the installment 
plan ; and that the construction of his own home or the 
new house that is being built around the corner involves 
the constant use of mensuration, he is likely to associate 
his school arithmetic with his everyday thoughts. 

From the third grade up arithmetic should be used in 
connection with actual life problems in addition to those 
taken from books. In the lower grades one period each 
week can profitably be given to the development and 
solution of problems of the local community in which the 
use of arithmetic plays a part, while in the upper grades 
a larger amount of time may be given, depending upon 
the extent to which the children react to the plan and the 
local problems that are available. This work, when 
carefully planned, brings new interest into the arithmetic 
class, and if persisted in throughout the school course 
will develop the habit of intelligently applying arith- 
metic. 



32 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Arithmetic Not Used Enough in Everyday Life. It 

is remarkable how many persons there are who have been 
well trained in mathematics in school but who never use 
it in life. They trust the clerks to make correct change 
for them ; the bank keeps track of their balances ; the 
merchant is implicitly trusted to give them their correct 
accounts ; interest on installment purchases is forgotten 
or disregarded until it is due ; the plumber, the plasterer, 
or the painter works for them and sends in a bill. They 
pay it without knowing whether or not the charge is just. 
A mild sensation was caused when one of our boys dis- 
covered in his concrete arithmetic work that his family 
was paying for a house on the installment plan under a 
contract which did not furnish them with the means of 
calculating the amount of interest payable before the prop- 
erty would be turned over. A girl of thirteen discovered 
that her father had been paying eight per cent interest 
for six years thinking all the time that he was paying 
seven. A boy whose parents were building a new house 
figured the cost of the plumbing supplies and found that 
the only company they had consulted was charging 
$185 to put in materials which he could purchase for 
$42. Concluding that this was too much he obtained 
bids from several other companies. He learned a life 
lesson when he discovered that no two of them were the 
same and that a reputable concern would do the same 
work for $110. These are type incidents of common 
experiences in a school in which life problems are made a 
regular part of the work. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 33 

Life Problems Supplement Regular Work. It is a 

mistake to try to confine all the arithmetic to life 
problems. Although these furnish some drill, they can- 
not be provided so as to furnish sufficient exercise to the 
class unless we make them as artificial as those in text- 
books. More is gained by staying with the regular 
arithmetic, within functional limits of course, and doing 
this better by associating it with life. The purpose of life 
problems is to develop the habit of using arithmetic in 
connection with the larger concrete problems of life. 
As pointed out in the preceding paragraph, many of these 
have a large mathematical element but are not properly 
met by the majority of people because they are loath to 
use even the mathematics they have been taught in 
school. The safest method is to use life problems as often 
as children will bring them in. This will depend upon 
the method the teacher employs in presenting the plan. 

Illustrations of life problems involving a use of arith- 
metic. 

Problem : How may I learn to save and also help my 
parents to save? 

1. I may start a bank account. (Every school should 

have its penny savings bank, which is merely a system of 

receiving money at school and depositing it in a local bank. 

Any banker will be glad to arrange for such a scheme. The 

city of Toledo reports that the sum of $25,000 is deposited 

annually in its public school savings accounts, carried on in 

connection with applied arithmetic.) ^ 

^ Under the stimulus of the War, Thrift Stamps were sold at school 
in most communities. We should continue something along this line. 



34 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

2. I may add the monthly bills. (These may be brought 
to school and the children be allowed to compare monthly 
expenditures. There is danger here of invading the privacy 
of the home, and this must not be urged too much. The 
incorporation into the school work of the monthly bills, if 
continued throughout the year, has been found to please the 
majority of parents. The average father appreciates any 
interest his children may take in the family expenditures. 
The tact of the teacher has a great deal to do with the 
results.) 

3. I may keep books of my own expenses, so that I will 
know at the end of the year where my money has gone. 

4. I should make myself as profitable to my family 
as I can, and, at least, not become a burden. 

a. By helping at home with chores and work. 
Problems Involved : A man's work is worth 35 cents per 
hour. (The children should discover this by finding out what 
men in the community are paid for their work.) A boy's work 
should be worth 15 cents per hour. Every hour I work I am 
saving 15 cents for my family. (This may be continued until 
the child has calculated and discussed saving in relation to 
the cost of his shoes, cap, stockings, etc.) 

Other large problems, some of which alTord even greater 
opportunities for applied arithmetic than the one given 
above, are : 

The construction of a building (covering every- 
thing in practical mensuration). 

Problems in construction and cost of the cement 
walk in front of child's home. Should be taken up when the 
children are able to see a cement walk under construction. 

Does it pay to keep an automobile? How much per 
month and per mile does it cost the family to own the machine ? 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 35 

A live boy or girl may take great delight in reporting at regu- 
lar intervals on this problem. 

Renting or buying a garage. 

Value of the home garden. 

Profit and loss in chickens, rabbits, etc. (Should not 
be undertaken unless these are kept track of for a full year.) 

Cost of pets. 

Problem of the best expenditure of a certain amount 
of money at Christmas. 

Home Economics problems : 
Shall we buy or bake bread ? 
Cost of parties, various menus, etc. 

Problems Must Come from Lives of Children. All of 

the above problems are valuable to the extent that they 
are taken up by the children in connection with every- 
day life. Inferences drawn from them are likely to per- 
sist through life. Thus they should be followed to re- 
liable results before any conclusions are formed. This 
work is not designed to train children in the peculiar 
arithmetic of different vocations, and must not be put in 
the same class with the varying types of vocational 
arithmetic made up of artificial problems. Life prob- 
lems must come from the children, and the teacher 
should never do more than suggest. Those of the class 
who do not care to take up life problems may be well 
supplied with regular textbook work If properly 
managed, however, the life-work day will be eagerly 
looked forward to by the entire class. 

Community Problems. In addition to life problems 
(those taken from the lives of the individuals in the class) 



36 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

many schools are supplementing the regular arithmetic 
with community problems. In relating arithmetic to 
the industries of the community, we are using it to form 
a rational attitude toward, and a better understanding of, 
the local problems the child constantly meets, and to 
whose existence he is usually oblivious. 

The city of Indianapolis prints a 58-page booklet of 
these problems. In the introduction it is maintained 
that 

'^A rational presentation of the processes and principles 
of arithmetic can be secured as well through material repre- 
senting real conditions as through material representing arti- 
ficial conditions." 

The problems are taken from lumber yards, buildings 
under construction, a brush and broom factory, gas plant, 
bakery, a canning factory, veneer works, a dairy and milk 
depot, fire department, city market, city hospital, tax- 
ation in the city of Indianapolis, government of Wood- 
ruff Place, a branch of the city library, cement walks 
and street improvement, construction of boulevards, 
railway passenger service, transportation, insurance, and 
the stock market. Although they furnish more or less 
drill they are not given primarily for this purpose. Their 
chief value is civic. From dealing with problems which 
are daily met by his townspeople, the child will get a 
more sympathetic attitude toward and a constructive 
interest in what they are doing. Problems are based 
upon accurate data, and inferences drawn from the re- 
sults obtained may be relied upon. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 37 

Problems in History 

History and civics are well adapted to the problem 
method. Memory work in these subjects has now be- 
come incidental. Wide acquaintance and insight on the 
part of the children is the modern aim in teaching them. 
Dates are remembered because they are tied up with is- 
sues of importance, and the time element may be en- 
tirely disregarded unless it is a factor in bringing about 
events. Information is not neglected in teaching history 
or civics by the thought method ; their facts are unified 
and given purpose and direction. 

The method here is much the same as in geography. 
The present is used as a basis of comparison. Children 
are taught to compare constantly the problems of their 
ancestors with those we are meeting to-day. Thus, the 
Colonial period may be studied under the large problem 
of adjustment to the New World. Thought must be 
constantly exercised in grappHng with the problems 
which confronted the colonists. The following prob- 
lems furnish a basis for a complete problem study of this 
period. They furnish central and connecting themes in 
studying the many apparently unrelated events : 

1. Adjustment to new geographical conditions. 

(a) Climatic, (b) agricultural, (c) natural surround- 
ings. 

2. Getting along with the Indians. 

(a) Differences between the two peoples in (1) mode 
of living, (2) beliefs and customs, (3) temperament, (4) methods 
of warfare. 



38 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

3. The problem of government. 

(Covers a large field and contains many smaller prob- 
lems.) 

4. Religious problems. 

(Different beliefs, toleration, persecution, power of 
minister, etc.) 

A complete development of these four problems will 
bring the children into contact with a great deal more 
history than could be taught by following a textbook. 
In learning to look upon the facts of history as factors 
in the solution of problems, they lay the foundation for 
the interpretation of all the history which follows. As 
soon as a child has learned to think in terms of history all 
its difficulties disappear. For example, let anyone take 
up the Missouri Compromise and try to learn its terms in 
an unrelated way ; then let him try to learn them as re- 
lated to the problem of slavery and the conditions which 
existed at the time. By the first method the task is 
practically impossible, especially if these terms are to be 
retained for very long. Using the second method, if the 
conditions are properly grouped, one may be able to 
predict many of the terms, and, once having followed 
the remedies proposed to meet the problem with which 
Congress was dealing, the difficulty of memorizing becomes 
insignificant. 

Problems in Home Economics 

This subject, so often taught in a purely mechanical 
fashion, readily lends itself to the thought method. To 
bring greater efficiency into the home it is necessary to 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 39 

develop a thinking attitude toward home problems. 
Mechanical efficiency is good enough on the part of 
servants, but those who manage homes need to be able 
to organize. 

In making plans for the year the teacher should first 
consider the living conditions in the homes of the girls 
who are going to take the course. Too much planning 
is usually done upon the mechanical side without ref- 
erence to this more important feature. Granting that 
certain mechanical principles are furnished by a skirt, 
others by a middy blouse, and still others by under- 
garments, it is still not profitable to practice them in an 
unrelated way. 

The following problems furnished material for a year's 
work to a seventh-grade class : 

As a girl in the seventh grade I have many home inter- 
ests and duties. I should acquire some definite abilities to 
be more helpful and valuable as a part of my home life. 

1. What should I learn about the home in order to make 
myself more useful ? 

a. I may make some of my own clothes. 
h. I may help in mending clothes. 

c. I may help to beautify the home and make 
decorations for it. 

d. I may help to save : 

By learning how to buy. 

By making proper use of materials purchased. 

By conservation. 

e. I may help to keep the home clean and sanitary. 
Problem a further developed. 



40 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

In making my own clothes what is the best garment 
I could attempt at this time? It should be useful, and yet 
simple enough for me to make without unnecessary destruc- 
tion of materials. 

Discussion follows. Here the teacher is afforded 
opportunity to explain why the girls should not attempt to 
make different garments which may be mentioned. Meet- 
ing this problem now will save no end of trouble and dissatis- 
faction later on. The girls will also be interested in the ex- 
planations of the teacher and give thoughtful attention because 
they have a definite need for knowing what the teacher is 
telling them. This furnishes a motive for 'Hheory lessons." 
Apron selected as the first problem. 

Sub-problems : 

What materials f Motive furnished for as wide 
a study of materials as the teacher wants to introduce here. 

Use of sewing machine. The child gives better 
attention and learns more quickly how to use the machine 
when the explanation of it is a part of a piece of work that is 
to follow. As much is mastered in one lesson of this kind as 
can be done in a week when the sewing machine is taken up 
unrelated to the plans of the children and preliminary to 
anything definite in the way of its use. 

I must keep the machine in good condition so as 
not to lose time in my work. Directions as to care of machine. 

Design of apron. As wide a study as seems profit- 
able. 

Decoration. As much individuality as possible. 

Throughout the entire course each new step is de- 
veloped in relation to the children's realization of their 
need for doing just what is planned in connection with 
the different large problems a, b, c, d, and e. A happy 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 41 

zest for the work is a result, and the school tasks will 
develop a more thoughtful attitude toward the problems 
of the home as well as being definitely helpful in solving 
some of them. 

Illustration of Mechanical Method Which Failed. 
The mechanical method so often employed by teachers of 
home economics causes the girls to dislike sewing and 
cooking, or to conclude that such work at school has no 
connection with the tasks of the home. The following 
shows how one teacher failed in her work although 
she took up the same materials used in the above 
illustration. 

Preparatory work : 

1. Thread, a study of the different colors, sizes, and 
thread materials. 

2. Stitches, study of and practice in making different 
kinds. 

3. Seams, study and practice. 

4. The sewing machine ; a study of its different parts. 
Preliminary practice on the machine until an ability to handle 
it was fairly well developed. Drawings made of parts of the 
machine. 

First task: make an apron. 

Materials : selected by the teacher without dis- 
cussion. 

Design : furnished by teacher. 

(The fundamental idea being that children 
should not be permitted to take part in choosing what they 
are to do, they being too ''immature." Materials and designs 
should be taken up in special courses and not be brought into 
a course in sewing.) 



42 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

In a few weeks the children were disgusted with the 
work, and the task of disciplining them was almost im- 
possible. By the end of the fifth week the majority 
had brought notes from their parents giving various 
reasons why they should withdraw from the course. 

Problems and Topics 

One often hears the question, '^ What is the essential 
difference between the problem method and the topic 
method?" The answer is this: the problem furnishes 
more opportunity for thinking on the part of the chil- 
dren. A topic may be developed as a problem, but it is 
not always so treated. A child may recite on a topic in 
somewhat the same way he does on a page. Needles, 
thread, and sewing machines were very uninteresting 
when considered as topics in the home economics work 
described on the foregoing page, but as parts of a prob- 
lem which the children desired to solve they furnished 
vital aids and were considered worth knowing about. 

The best method of answering this question is to treat 
one subject from the two standpoints. This may be done 
as follows : 

Roads. Treated topically as a lesson in civics. 

1. Number of miles of roads in home county. 

2. Names and general direction of chief roads. 

3. Taxes levied to support roads. 

4. Road laws for drivers. 

5. Number of miles of paved roads in home county. 

6. A description of the different materials used in paving. 

7. The number of bridges in the home county. 



THE PROBLEM METHOD 43 

8. The duties of the road overseer. 

9. Description of methods and machinery used in im- 
proving roads. 

Roads. Treated as a problem in civics. 

1. Why do we have roads? Is there any advantage to 
the members of this class in having roads ? 

Besides the fact that roads make it possible to 
travel, the children try to find : 

Relation of roads to the price of farm products. 
Their relation to the cultivation of farms in 
distant places. 

The relation of their condition to : 
Delivery of U. S. mail. 

The doctor and his patients, (being a factor 
in the successful treatment of disease) . 

The passage of tourists through the local 
county (bringing in the value of tourist travel). 
The consolidation of schools. 
Other similar topics. 

2. How may we improve our roads? 

Study of roads already in existence in order to 
determine how well they meet the demands outlined and 
studied under point 1. 

Do we need any more trans-state or continental 
roads ? 

In this connection note roads in existence and 
study what large highways go through the state but not through 
the home county. 

What soil and drainage conditions have to be 
met in improving the roads? 

Study of bad roads and especially bad places near 
the city, with a consideration of means of improving them. 

Are the taxes levied sufficient to maintain the 
roads as they should be maintained ? 



44 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Study of the taxes of the county. Question 
officers in charge of roads on this point. 

How should we go about increasing taxes? 

We must be careful not to be unjust. 

We must not overburden the people with taxes. 

In this connection, what other taxes are they 
paying? 

The problem may be continued until all the 
nine divisions of the topic have been included. 

In the problem development we see a marshaling of 
facts and topics in such a way as to produce conclusions 
and constant thinking, not only as the problem progresses 
but even after it has been completed. In addition, there 
is now a constant relation between topics which were 
comparatively isolated under the topic method. One 
may say that topics need not be thus isolated, and the 
answer is, ^' Certainly not ; we should organize them into 
parts of a problem." In the measure that topics are 
organized, related, and brought into the child's individual 
life, they approach problems. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PROJECT 

Characteristics, Uses, and Values 

Problem and Project. As explained before, the proj- 
ect is different from the problem in that its essential 
feature is the provision of something to organize, in- 
vestigate, or accomplish, rather than to stimulate thought. 
It may be a problem or a part of a problem, and it may 
embrace problems. The more good problems a project 
affords the better it is for educational purposes. To 
afford something to do, the project must necessarily 
arise from the interests of the children. The method 
may be illustrated by quoting a description of its use in 
the Horace Mann School. George D. von Hofe says, 
^^ The sixth-grade pupils in the Horace Mann school are 
studying science regardless of every artificial division. 
The class chooses a project, something that has attracted 
attention and in which they are vitally interested. The 
teacher then presents the information to follow not the 
so-called logical development found in textbooks, but 
the trend of thought of the pupils." ^ 

It is not possible to separate the project from the prob- 
lem method. Some persons define the project as the 

1 Teachers College Record, May, 1916, pp. 240-246. 

45 



46 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

" end-point " of the problem. Many of the illustrations 
given in the preceding chapter could be called projects. 
However, the project view adds distinctly to the success 
of problems. 

Provides for Longer Assignment. The distinct ad- 
vantage of the project over the old topic or question 
and answer method is that it provides for continuous 
work on the part of the pupil rather than assignment 
from day to day. It thus allows for weighing values 
and organization of material along vital lines by both 
teacher and pupil. Consider these points in the follow- 
ing illustrations : 

Project in history : Territorial expansion in the United 
States. 

In following this project the class will read widely 
in the text and in reference books. The work may take up 
two weeks and end with a debate. The two weeks' work is 
bound together in the project. The children think constantly 
about the various issues involved during the period. They 
not only know about this and that acquisition, but they live 
over and think out the general principle of expansion. 

Project in mathematics : Eighth grade mensuration. 

To study the mathematics involved in the construc- 
tion of a house. 

Practically every problem in functional mensuration 
will be discovered in the project. The children will be study- 
ing mensuration on a higher plane after an introduction of 
this kind. Some connection with a house that is being built 
in the community may be kept up during the entire study of 
mensuration. Such a project will not succeed unless drill 
problems aside from the construction of the house are intro- 



THE PROJECT . 47 

ducecl. Too often it becomes more house than arithmetic. 
This, of course, would not be an arithmetic project. 

Project in Civics : 

To study city government in order to know how to 
improve our own. This will include a study of the home city. 
Many visits to different public places will be a part. Public 
men will be questioned and will be asked to speak to the class. 
During it all every child knows that his lesson for several 
weeks will center around city governments. Of course this 
will be very definitely divided among different days, but at 
the same time the child is interested in his daily lesson he is 
also interested in the larger project of which it is a part. 

By doing such work the pupils are trained in inde- 
pendence in investigation. They learn how to follow 
out an undertaking. 

Does Not Replace but Aids Regular Work. The proj- 
ect is brought into the school not in opposition to the 
regular work but as an aid and a supplement to it. When 
we speak of discarding logical order, only that part of 
logical order which has proved a drawback to teaching is 
meant, and order is by no means discarded. Instead, 
there is substituted the natural order, the order of in- 
terest and purpose. The textbook is used as a '' refer- 
ence handbook," and its contents are mastered and 
related to the child's life, not necessarily in the order 
given in the book but in the order of the development 
of the project. That which is learned in this way will be 
retained because it is made a part of life. Most of the 
knowledge gained in the old way of servilely following 
the text is forgotten as soon as examination time 



48 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

passes, and often, to the chagrin of teachers, even be- 
fore it arrives. 

Supplements School Work. The project serves to 
keep the child interested in wholesome work in the hours 
after school. It takes the place of old style home work, 
which was usually nothing more than an addition to dis- 
agreeable school tasks. Harmful recreation is also by 
this means supplanted by occupations both wholesome 
and educational. 

The construction and maintenance of a wireless plant, 
for example, is a project which will lead a boy into profit- 
able fields, will keep him ^^off the street," and will 
provide a stabilizer for his disposition. Parents will find 
it a profitable investment to spend money on a boy in 
this way, and teachers will reap ample reward in better 
school work for any time they spend in fostering such a 
project. 

The Part Projects Have Always Played in Education. 
The project is new only in the sense that it is becoming a 
definite term in educational literature and is receiving 
wider recognition in school practice. It is a universal 
means to education and growth and has played a large 
part in all education ever since learning has been an at- 
tribute of mankind. Long before arbitrary logical pro- 
cedure had established its blighting control over our 
schools, the method of the teachers, the wise men, or 
medicine men was essentially the project. The learner 
came to the teacher in order to learn how to achieve some 
definite end he had in view. Even before the existence 



THE PROJECT 49 

of teachers, savage man learned of the world about him 
through his projects. The projects which led him to go 
out upon the water were, without question, at the basis 
of the origin and evolution of navigation. If he con- 
structed weapons and improved upon those in existence 
during his time, we may take for granted that his work 
did not grow out of a general study but was a definite 
part of a special project in which he was interested at the 
time. All of us owe the chief elements of our education 
to projects. For illustration, a man moves from Colo- 
rado to Washington. This move is made the basis for 
more definite gain in knowledge of geography, sociology, 
finance, and in a dozen other special branches than any 
amount of logically arranged but unrelated courses 
could accomplish. The use of the project is the nearest 
the school has come to connecting education with every- 
day life. 

The Part Projects Have Played in the Development of 
Great Men. It is well worth our consideration that 
eminent men have been educated primarily outside of 
schools. Many of them were failures in school. Any- 
one who reads the lives of great men will be struck by the 
part their projects have played in their education. Ex- 
amples, selected from the field of science and typical of 
the life of any great man, are given here : 

Agassiz received his education chiefly through his own 
investigations and projects. Before he was ten years 
old he had made extensive experiments. He studied 
animals, their structures, habits, and haunts. His proj- 



50 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

ects ranged in extent from the study of living fishes in 
a homemade aquarium to the observation and imitation 
of mechanics. At twelve he had a collection of animals 
and plants that was famous throughout the country. 

Edward Drinker Cope started scientific projects of 
value at the age of seven. During a sea voyage to Bos- 
ton with his father he kept a diary which he filled with 
drawings of ^' jelly fish, grampuses, and other natural 
objects, seen on the way." He was greatly attracted 
by the museum of the academy of natural sciences at 
Philadelphia and made drawings of a great many of the 
old skeletal remains before he was nine years old.^ Marsh, 
Wyman, Gray, and Newcomb began in a similar way. 
Humboldt, Hugh Miller, Jefferies, and Audubon had 
wonderful collections and spent their boyhood gathering 
specimens and living with nature. A friend of Audubon 
describes the latter 's room as follows : '^ On entering the 
room I was surprised to find it turned into a museum. 
The walls were festooned with all sorts of birds' eggs, 
carefully blown and strung on a string. The chimney 
piece was adorned with stuffed squirrels, raccoons, opos- 
sums, fishes, frogs, etc.'' 

A laboratory in the cellar, a newspaper, and a tele- 
graph line between his home and that of a boy friend 
were projects which played fundamental roles in the 
education of Edison. 

Like illustrations from every field of human accom- 
plishment could be furnished. The teacher need only 

1 Jordan, David S. Leading American Men of Science. Holt, 1910. 



THE PROJECT 51 

read the biography of any great man to see the impor- 
tance of his projects to his education and success. 

Importance of the Child's Project. The projects of 
youth are more important to education than are those 
of the adult. When the habit of attacking situations 
and following them to successful solution is formed 
early in life, the individual rises to a higher plane of en- 
deavor. He learns to go ahead without waiting for aid. 
He uses the information authorities furnish him only 
when it works. Success in life is closely associated with 
the early development of these abilities. A child in the 
sixth grade who has followed out several good projects 
probably has acquired valuable information and abilities 
which ordinary schooling could not have developed in a 
lifetime. The wireless plant in the physics department 
of a leading college was constructed by a professor of 
physics under the supervision of a boy who had learned 
what he knew in the home project of constructing one in 
his own back yard. 

Must Be Related to the Lives of the Children. The 
use of artificial projects will not help in the treatment of 
any subject. The old logical method is not bettered un- 
less we put life projects in its place. For example, the 
subject '^ water " may be taken up by a class and all 
sorts of interesting facts about it developed from maga- 
zine articles. If the children are really interested in 
water, if it is a life project, then it will be worth while. 
But if it is imposed upon them by the teacher, the time 
had better be spent in regular work. 



52 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Scope of Project. We have not as yet found projects 
enough to take the place of regular class work. In sub- 
jects like home economics, physics, and woodwork, they 
make up the largest part of the work. In English, 
arithmetic, history, and civics we find many opportuni- 
ties for projects, but not to the extent that we can do 
away w4th drill or iViechanical procedure. 

The project is likely to embrace several subjects and 
furnish a motive for drill, the pursuit of information, 
and the exercise of thought in motive and pursuit. If 
wisely employed, it is brought into the school only when 
it will make a sure contribution and stimulate better 
work. Whenever it is used to the disadvantage of good 
work in school, it becomes a distracting influence, and 
the teacher must judge between its value and that of the 
course of study. Ordinarily it is best to stimulate in- 
dividual home work upon projects in addition to those 
connected with school studies. This does not mean that 
we are to neglect any worthy project a child may have, 
and it must be admitted that many of them are more 
educative than school tasks, but the possibilities of 
their school application are limited. As explained later 
in this chapter, the school must give due recognition to 
the educational value of the work a child does outside 
of school requirements. 

A wise use of projects in the regular school work re- 
sults in the establishment of centers of investigation. 
Research may in this way be undertaken in the elemen- 
tary school, and as a result of following out several good 



THE PROJECT 53 

projects in addition to or as a part of a regular course of 
study, the children will learn how to investigate for 
themselves. The regular work is in this way strength- 
ened because of the greater interest of the children and 
the increased amount of reading or other special work 
they do. When the critical points in a subject are 
grouped in projects^ their mastery loses most of its dif- 
ficulties. 

The Red Cross campaign which was carried on in De- 
cember, 1917, made a splendid project for many schools. 
Its history was investigated and reported on by the his- 
tory classes. It was made the basis for oral and writ- 
ten composition. The children were organized at school 
and learned vital lessons in civics by taking part in the 
campaign to enlist members. The different rooms 
bought memberships. The children in the lower grades 
cut bandages ; those in the upper grades undertook more 
difficult tasks. Many schools that had never used proj- 
ects and did not know of their vital educational sig- 
nificance took hold of the Red Cross idea and made good 
educational material of it. The question is, when will 
schools learn that their communities and the regu ar sub- 
jects abound even in ordinary times with projects just 
as interesting as this one, which can be related even more 
closely to the work of the school ? 

Projects in which the entire school may share, and 
receive intellectual training at the same time are : 
Morning exercises. 
Special day programs. 



54 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Making the school more attractive. 

Creation and development of museums and collec- 
tions. 

Organization of the noon period. 

Enlistment of the community for food conservation 
(or other purposes). 

Beautifying the home town or city. 

Projects in Special Subjects 

Woodwork. In woodwork the project method has 
now almost universal adoption^ taking the place of the 
old task method. The child learns the handling and 
care of tools, how to construct joints, and all the general 
features of this work by making articles which are useful 
to him. In making a sled, for example, he must study 
models and woods and submit his definite plan. He 
then makes the different parts, the runners, joints, 
and bindings. Each day he cares for his tools and bench 
and leaves them in good order. The teacher's function 
is to see that his powers are fully exercised, that 
the project is not too difficult, yet furnishes the exer- 
cise to develop the abilities for which the course was 
designed. ^ 

Mechanics. In the upper grades many schools are 
offering courses in mechanics embodying work with 
metals, the principles of physics, and some chemistry. A 
report of several individual children from a class in this 
subject in which projects were made the basis of the 
work is given for illustration. 



THE PROJECT 55 

Report of Eighth-Grade Class in Physics 

1. General attitude of teacher. 

We give such a course in order to instruct the boys 
in the practical value of physics. A law is brought up when 
the time comes to use it. The pupil reasons things out for 
himself with an occasional suggestion from the teacher. 

These boys covered in their three months' work the 
following : 

The fundamental principles of electricity, some me- 
chanics, heat, and sound. 

2. The attitude of the class. 

The class is very enthusiastic as a whole. Discipline 
is easily brought about by threatening to dismiss a boy from 
class. Several of the boys liked to put in extra time. 

3. Report of the work of each individual. 

B. F. : Made a thermostat which took up the expansion 
of metals, the conductivity of metals, etc. Made an electric 
toaster ; in this he worked out a new type in vertical elements, 
and the toast is held in place by springs. In this the prin- 
ciples of the length of wire to heat required, insulation, and 
heat through resistance were involved. He did considerable 
shop work, such as cleaning and repairing. His attitude 
was quiet, thoughtful, diligent, and he showed a desire to do 
the best work at all times. 

C. B. : Made a candy floss machine that made excel- 
lent floss, and he was called upon to demonstrate it to college 
classes. Made an electric switch, a telegraph key, and an 
electric toaster. The principles involved in his work were 
centrifugal and centripetal forces, gearing, wheel and axle, 
insulation, conduction, and connections. He was sometimes 
not so interested as he might have been. At the time of the 
floss machine he showed greatest interest. Is making a water 
motor to use at home with the floss machine. 



^6 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

C. G. : Made a thermostat, electric toaster, and an 
electric switch. He is slow to finish up things. He is espe- 
cially interested in working around the gas flame and some 
work of that nature is being prepared for him. Behavior good. 

G. R. : Made a vibrator whistle, a toaster, a switch, 
and a telegraph key. The vibrator was the only thing he 
made that involved principles not already stated for other 
boys. This boy is not so much interested in machinery as 
he is in construction. He does not like to use his head. Books 
have been furnished him, but he can find nothing in them that 
he wants to make. 

E. I. : Made a thermostat, two toasters, a telegraph 
key, a wireless outfit, a wireless detector. His work has been 
especially good. Works fast and accurately. He will spend 
extra time whenever he has the opportunity. His lathe work 
is very good. In other subjects he is fair, and none of the 
teachers of the regular school subjects would have imagined 
that he would work very hard at anything. 

H. S. : Repaired an old motor that he already had, 
made a steam engine that would run, and is now working on 
a Meccano set for his younger brother. The steam engine 
involved quite a few of the principles of heat and mechanics. 
His behavior has been very good, and he shows independence 
and ability to reason out things for himself. In his regular 
school work he had often been hard to discipline. 

Special extra work : The boys made Christmas pres- 
ents. One boy spent evenings and nights for a considerable 
time working on an electric toaster for his aunt. Some of 
the toasters were superior to those that the retail dealer charged 
from three to four dollars for. The materials cost about 
thirty cents. 

Along with this work the boys read widely in books 
and magazines on mechanics. They were furnished 



THE PROJECT 57 

with a large number of references, and it was not found 
necessary to require that they read them. It was hard 
to keep them from reading and discussing physics during 
other periods. The amount of information they gath- 
ered outside that necessary to the construction work 
made a valuable addition to the results of the course. 

Why are junior- and senior-high-school general science 
and physics so often taught in a dead and uninteresting 
manner when such live projects in these subjects are to 
be met at every hand ? What boy who can make a wire- 
less outfit; or who is allowed to fix his bicycle as a part of 
his regular physics, would not like the study? 

History. A project in history may be of such nature 
as to provide work for the entire class, or it may be 
purely individual. The history of Thanksgiving, Christ- 
mas, and other holidays, the life of a great man, or an 
ordinary topic, such as the settlement of the Northwest, 
or adjustment of the nation to the present war condi- 
tions, may serve as a project for investigation which 
would be preferred by the class to regular course-of-study 
work. A teacher may be able so to organize the course 
of study into interesting projects that nothing will be 
missed. 

The following is an illustration of the Colonial period 
taught through projects : 

The names of the leading characters are compiled 
by the teacher, and sources of information about them are 
collected. The following make a good list : Miles Standish, 
John Smith, James Oglethorpe, Lord Baltimore, Jefferson, 



58 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Madison, Monroe, Washington, Edmund Randolph, Roger 
Williams, Stuyvesant, Penn. 

The following topics are compiled and references 
on each topic noted : 

Family life in the colonies. 

Pohtical life in the colonies. 

North American Indians. 

The work of the French. 

The work of the EngUsh. 

The Cathohcs. 

The Puritans. 

Each of the colonies. 

Education in the colonies. 

Relation between the colonies and England. 

As the work progresses, the teacher finds opportunity 
to suggest or allow (it is better to allow than suggest) different 
individuals or groups to specialize upon one of the characters 
or topics. Before the course is completed, every member 
of the class reads the hfe of some eminent man and looks up 
data on one of the special topics. Some of the children read 
several biographies and investigate several topics. All of the 
class Usten to these special reports and discuss them. 

The opportunity for a project is likely to come acci- 
dentally and without notice. For this reason it is bet- 
ter for the teacher to have material like the above ready 
to suggest at the proper moment. With stimulating 
teaching a boy is very likely to want to know more about 
John Smith than the ordinary lesson gives him. When 
his questions indicate that the psychological moment 
has arrived, the teacher should be ready to allow him to 
read and report on the life of Smith for his regular his- 



THE PROJECT 59 

toiy lesson. On the appointed day he gives a ten minute 
recitation in his best EngHsh. When a group of chil- 
dren make a special investigation, an entire recitation 
period may be turned over to them with profit. 

A group of sixth-grade children after making a 
study of '' Life in the Virginia Colony " finished their 
project by dramatizing and playing it before the entire 
school. 

The following books were read as projects in history 
by an eighth-grade boy. He reported on each before 
the class. 

The Life of Lincoln — Project, Pioneer Life and the 
Development of a Great Man. 

The Life of General Butler — Project, A Participant of 
the Civil War. 

The Story of iEneas — Project, Semi-mythical History. 
The Story of the Moors — Project, Religious Strife. 
Winning the Northwest — Project in Itself. 
Hugh Wynne — Project, Individual Life During the 
Revolutionary War. 

Geography. Geography furnishes many projects and 
may be organized about the special interests and investi- 
gations of the children to such an extent that a regular 
course of study may be covered without bothering with 
any artificially arranged order. Fourth-grade geog- 
raphy, organized into projects and based upon ordinary 
textbooks such as Tarr and McMurry or Brigham and 
McFarlane, is given here for illustration. 

The following topics are selected as centers of interest. 



60 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



Food, Clothing, and Shelter 

Industries 

The Earth as a Whole 

Land 

Water 

Air 

Climate 

Maps 



These topics make up 
the ordinary course 
of study. 



The teaclier has in mind that these subjects are to be cov- 
ered by the class. She organizes them into projects in the fol- 
lowing manner. 

Discussion is started on each topic by bringing up some- 
thing interesting to the children. The text is not brought 
into the work in the treatment of any topic until it can be 
made use of to satisfy the pupils' wants. It is referred to 
continually in supplying information for which their projects 
call. They read all of it several different times, each time 
in relation to a different basic interest. Many other sources 
of information are used. 
Illustration : 
Clothing. 

The clothes of the children made the basis. 
It is found that wool, cotton, silk, and leather are 
represented. 

The question of where these came from is brought up. 
Also the question, how they came to their present 
state. 

When the class is desirous of investigating the matter 
further, the pages in the geography on which information 
is given are referred to, and the project is to obtain all the 
information they can concerning their clothing. The informa- 
tion in the book does not begin to satisfy a class which has 
been properly stimulated. 



THE PROJECT 61 

Further illustration : 
Maps. 

The ordinary course of study demands that the children 
learn the basic principles of reading maps in the fourth grade. 

Map making and reading makes a fine project. The 
teacher begins without reference to the maps in the books. 
The plan is to ask the children to locate something in a room 
so that some one could go to the room and find it. This fur- 
nishes a splendid game. After learning how to represent the 
different parts of their own room in diagrams, they go to the 
school yard and then to their home town and community. 

This furnishes a background for the question of the 
representation of distant places, the home country, and the 
continent. The children have become so interested in their 
project of representing places to each other that they take 
up the maps in the book as a regular part of their interest. 

Having developed in their game of representation 
all the basic features of map making, such as scales and color- 
ation, they never suffer from the misconceptions which children 
so often acquire due to the confusion of the map with the 
place it represents. 

There is a distinct advantage to the teacher in plan- 
ning the entire course he has to cover in relation to pos- 
sible projects. The plan of the year is constantly before 
him, and the difficult parts of the work can be made 
centers for projects. Their special difficulty is in this 
way eliminated. As mentioned before, the ordinary 
course of study is found inadequate to meet the demands 
of the children when they attack it in an intelligent man- 
ner. The teacher finds that, instead of being pushed for 
time in which to cover what is required in the course, it 



62 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

is difficult to provide enough subject matter to keep the 
class satisfied. 

Projects in Nature Study. Nature study should be 
taught by the project method. The teacher has an 
initial advantage in this subject in that he will not be 
hindered by logically arranged textbooks. There are 
few texts in use, and the one which has had the widest 
circulation is distinctly on the project order. ^ 

Illustrative projects in this subject are: 

1. The arrival of the birds in the spring (any or all 
grades) . 

Constant watch for the first arrival of each kind with 
reports at school. 

A study of the habits of some of these (both from 
books or magazine articles and from life). 
Their nests. 
Eggs. 
Food and methods of finding it. (Watch them.) 

Value to man of the insects they destroy. 
How they care for their young. 

2. Mushrooms. (Intermediate or upper grades.) 

Children collect the different kinds and bring them to 
school for identification. 

Read of the poisonous nature of some and methods of 
detecting these. 

Make the spore test and others at school. (Each 
child should be allowed to make the test.) 

Survey the community and teach the children to tell 
each edible variety ; warn them of the danger lurking in ones 
which to all outward circumstances appear innocent. 

^ Hodge, C. F. Nature Study and Life. 



THE PROJECT 63 

3. Snakes. (Any or all grades.) 

Catch the different non-poisonous varieties and 
bring them to school. The teacher should illustrate that 
they are not dangerous. 

Make a study in books and magazines of the value of 
snakes, toads, and lizards to man. 

Teach the children how to tell the poisonous kinds, 
and ascertain which of these are found in the local community. 

Other live and interesting projects may be found 
in the study of hundreds of varieties of wild life found in the 
home community, and concerning which the public library 
will furnish plenty of material in books and magazine articles, 
which may be related to the children of the lower grades, 
read to those in the intermediate grades, and read by those 
in the upper grades. . ^ 

Home Projects 

Educational Value of Home Life. When the final test 
of the efficiency in life of a given individual is applied, it 
is usually found that his life outside of school was a 
larger factor in the development of vital abilities than 
his schooling. The child spends approximately one third 
of the time he is awake in school. Presuming that 
everything he does there is of great educational value, 
the one third of his life spent in school is not likely to 
have as much influence upon him as the two thirds 
spent outside. When we remember that most children 
live a more active, aggressive life outside of school than 
inside, the dominance of the home and community life 
in their education cannot be doubted. 

Many individuals succeed in life with little or no school- 
ing. We find such persons, highly educated both tech- 



64 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

nically and academically, playing leading roles in every 
walk of life. In fact, it is a common occurrence to find 
school-trained men living neighbors to others who have 
had practically no schooling, the latter being more suc- 
cessful in their respective vocations, reading more and 
better books, and leading a larger life socially. This 
need not indicate that the school has been a failure,^ but 
such occurrences demonstrate the value of the forms of 
education which are found outside of schools. 

It must be kept in mind that every individual, whether 
he is a success or a failure, is self-made. Those who 
have good schools to attend have an advantage ; those 
who have good homes are even more fortunate ; but those 
who are trained under the proper school-home stimulus 
and guidance have an ideal educational environment. 
To the extent that the school enlarges the everyday life 
of the child, it will be successful in truly educating him. 
What he gets there must be a part of him ; he must try to 
assimilate and use it. In order to bring this about, the 
school must reach beyond the five and one half hours of 
its daily program and become an organizing and stimu- 
lating factor in the entire life of the child. 

Recognition of Home Work by the School. In the past 
the school has been too exclusive. It placed too much 
stress upon where and under what regulations an achieve- 
ment was made. The actual educational value of the work 

^ Studies show that the school-trained man usually excels, but this is 
true only if he is a student in life also. Many well-schooled men fail 
because they do not grow beyond their schooling. 



THE PROJECT 65 

an individual did was not made the basis of recognition. 
In fact, schools constantly ignored everything that was 
not done within four brick walls and under a prescribed 
course of study. In some places it was the custom to use 
the energies of the school to belittle good work done out- 
side of its sphere of influence. Only recently have school 
authorities come to evaluate properly home and com- 
munity work in their schemes of crediting the individual 
with educational progress. 

The modern school realizes that a child's home work 
is not a disturbing factor in his education, but that it is 
part of his training even more important than school 
work. Teachers used to remonstrate with parents for 
providing too much for their children to do outside of 
school. To-day we realize that the boy who must milk 
and care for a cow and the girl who must help manage 
and take care of a home are provided with educational 
gold mines which may be worth far more as stabilizing 
influences and agencies of development than many of 
the tasks performed in school. 

In recognizing home work and utilizing it in the child's 
education, the school faces a many-sided problem. Any 
scheme is better than ignoring it, but the proper corre- 
lation of home and school work is no easy task. 

Methods of Recognition. Three definite ways of 
recognizing home work have been developed by school 
authorities. They may be described as follows : 

1. Work at home is made a substitute for and is al- 
lowed to take the place of school work. This method 



66 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

was first developed by Superintendent Alderman of 
Oregon. He noted that many children were living prac- 
tically useless home lives. It was difficult to get them to 
do their school work, and in conferring with parents he 
found that they were making every possible sacrifice and 
doing all the work at home themselves in order that their 
children might have their time for advancement in school. 

Concluding that work, like charity, is best when it be- 
gins in the home, he set about devising a means of stimu- 
lating home work. He talked the matter over with the 
children, and they agreed that everyone should help at 
home. Following this he began to substitute the per- 
formance of home tasks for portions of regular assign- 
ments at school. When the regular algebra lesson had 
been ten problems, he cut it down to five and substituted 
five home tasks for the other problems. He claims that 
the immediate result was better work both at home and 
at school. 

However, experience has shown that Alderman's 
rather spectacular results will not continue after the 
spell of newness has worn off and the substitution of 
these home tasks for school work becomes a part of the 
regular program. In doing away with a part of the 
school assignments we admit that they were not neces- 
sary. Either the subject is not worth requiring, or the 
amount of work we have been giving in it is more than 
is necessary to provide for proper advancement. But 
when we properly select our subject matter in the school, 
it is impossible to substitute home tasks for it. If a child 



THE PROJECT 67 

cannot read, he will not be helped by being allowed to 
split kindling at home in place of reading. It will not be 
advantageous to add to his reading credit for home work 
not connected with reading. There must be some better 
method of recognizing home work. 

2. A second method is to add home work to the regu- 
lar school list of subjects. Cards are sent home at regu- 
lar intervals. The parents fill them out with state- 
ments of the number of hours the children have spent in 
the performance of different home tasks. ^' Home 
work " is given a place on the report card and the grade 
in it is used along with those in the regular school sub- 
jects in calculating the child's general average, which is 
made the basis of his promotion. 

This method has advantages over that of substituting 
home work for that of the school. Definite recognition 
is given any work a child may do at home. By stimu- 
lating home work and giving it a place on the report 
card along with the work of the school we dignify and 
elevate it in the eyes of the children. Some recognition 
of this type must be retained. 

There are some conditions which make this method 
inadequate to meet the situation. The work of the 
school is to educate. It must do more than recognize. 
When we record that a child has spent thirty-seven hours 
helping her mother at home and give her a grade for this 
work, we are not allowing for the factor of improvement. 
She may be doing it as so much drudgery and in the most 
slovenly and disadvantageous manner. In merely re- 



68 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

cording a grade on the basis of so many hours, the school 
may be confirming her in slovenly work. This problem 
becomes more prominent as the months and years pass 
by and the school continues to give a child a grade for 
the same routine work. Some definite means should be 
employed to stimulate the child to improve his outside 
work and educate himself by it. Also, the work of the 
school and that of the home are not properly correlated 
by this method. It is a decided step in advance over 
the old method of sacrificing the home life for the school, 
but it does not go far enough. 

3. The modern method is that of the school-home proj- 
ect. The school in this way not only stimulates home 
work but provides for its improvement and organization. 
If a boy cares for a cow at home, the school, by stimu- 
lating this work as a project, makes it one of the most 
valuable educational features of his life. The work is 
made much more interesting to the boy when he finds 
that his old drudgery and routine is only one phase of 
a many-sided project which is interesting at home and 
may be made a part of his school work. 

Methods of Organizing School-Home Projects 

Survey. In order to secure a basis for successful or- 
ganization, the teacher should first of all make a survey 
of the projects that are possible in his community. The 
interests and home duties of each child are tabulated. 
The data obtained in this way is made the center of a 
school-home campaign. 



THE PROJECT 



69 



The following home activities were tabulated for the 
sixth grade in the month of January at the University 
Heights Elementary School, Seattle, Washington. 



Reading books. 
Piano lessons. 
Knitting. 
Work on farm. 
Making clothes. 
Making quilt. 
Clubs. 
Painting. 
Carpenter work. 



House work. 
Care of pets. 
Making toys. 
Swimming. 
Collections. 
Care of furnace. 
Saving money. 
Home games. 



Delivering papers. 
Violin lessons. 
Going to movies. 
Growing flowers. 
Caring for live stock. 
Chopping wood. 
Mechanical drawing. 
Art work. 



How to Deal with These Projects. After the teacher 
knows what boys and girls are interested in outside of 
school work, his task is to have each child concentrate 
upon one or several of his interests and make reports of 
progress in them. Any of the interests noted in the fore- 
going sixth-grade survey may amount to very little if 
allowed to go along without any attention. Most of them 
may be developed into very vital and dominating fea- 
tures of the child's life if the teacher will pay some atten- 
tion to and encourage them. Usually he can refer the 
child to books or articles which will help in carrying on 
the project. He can show how to make the interest 
worth while, and he can keep up interest so that much 
more will be accomplished than if the project had not 
been given recognition. 

Thus Reading Books becomes a project of Reading as 
Many Good Books as Possible During the Term. The 



70 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

child reports on them to the teacher, who mentions other 
good books to him. He knows that the teacher is in- 
terested in his reading during the entire term, wants 
regular reports about it, and will always be glad to hear 
about it. He knows that his grades will be affected by 
the way he goes at this project. 

Painting or carpenter work after school hours, instead 
of being done in a haphazard fashion and only to while 
away the time, becomes a live issue when taken by a child 
as his home project. He becomes a student of painting. 
He learns of the different kinds of paints. He notes 
painters at work : sees how many brushes they use, how 
they hold the brush, how they mix their paints, what they 
do to boards before they paint them, etc. He follows 
carpentry in the same way. 

I have seen boys learn almost everything there is to 
learn about a trade by following it as a home project for 
several years. For a project a boy learned enough to 
paint his father's house in such a way that the paint out- 
lasted that put on by regular painters. He followed this 
by contracting painting during a summer. Other proj- 
ects may be developed in the same way. 

Illustration of a School-Home Project in Detail. 
The following is the story of how one child was stimu- 
lated by his teacher to take care of a pen of chickens as 
a home-school project. 

J reported in a seventh-grade class that he was caring 

for chickens at home, and that he would like to work with 
them as a project which would receive recognition at school. 



THE PROJECT 71 

He had eight hens and a rooster. He was feeding scraps 
and some grain. He knew httle or nothing about chickens 
or their care, had read nothing about them, did not know the 
values of the different kinds of stock, and knew nothing of 
feeding for greater egg-laying. 

For two years he kept chickens as a project. In that 
time he read widely in books and magazines. The class 
visited his home several times. Any child who wanted to 
know anything about chickens usually went to J for in- 
formation. He took great pride in his knowledge and accom- 
plishments. 

The teacher told him to write to the State Agricultural 
College for reading and information. It was not far from his 
home and he made a trip there to see the chickens they had 
and to talk with the '^authorities" about chickens. 

In his own pen there was gradually produced a great 
change. He found that none of his chickens were of good 
stock, that two hens did not lay at all, and that the feed 
he was using was not the right kind for laying hens. He 
sold his old stock. He learned to buy pullets in order to 
get eggs in the winter. He sprouted oats in the cellar at 
his home in order to have green food in the winter. He re- 
constructed his pen and house to make them warmer. He 
kept a definite daily record. He learned how to make 
chickens "pay." 

During the entire time he had a large and vital interest. 
He would often hurry home from school to learn how his 
chickens were doing and in order to work about his pens. 
He soon knew different poultry magazines and read them. 
He knew every chicken ranch within several miles. He 
competed at shows and won several prizes. The monthly 
footings of one of his account books are given here for 
illustration. 



.82 


Paid feed 


1.95 




1 doz. pullets 


6.00 




Paid grits 


0.25 


0.67 


Paid feed 


1.60 



72 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Purchased on Sept. 14th, 4 hens for which I paid $3.00. 

Account for Sept. Paid $3.00 for hens 

Gain, 1 egg, Value $0.02 .50 for feed. 

October 
Hens' gain 33 eggs @ 30cts. 
per doz. 

November 
Hens gain 12 eggs @ 40 cts. 

December 
Hens gain 20 eggs (w, 40 cts. 

January 
Hens' gain 133 eggs @ 40 cts. 4.40 Paid. No feed purchased 

February 
Hens gain 160 eggs @ 30 cts. 4.00 Paid feed 1.80 

Definite School Time. At least one school period per 
month should be given over to reports by the children on 
their home projects, and a period every two weeks can 
often be used to advantage. Great interest in these re- 
ports should be shown by the teacher, and whenever possi- 
ble the child should be encouraged to bring sample prod- 
ucts with his report. 

A record should be kept of each project undertaken, 
and written and oral reports required concerning its 
progress. The teacher and the entire school may some- 
times go to the child's home to see some interesting de- 
velopment. Bees swarming, a brood of chickens of a 
special variety, an unusually good garden or lawn, or a 
wireless apparatus may make profitable such a visit. 
These excursions are always followed by awakened iji- 



THE PROJECT 73 

terest on the part of the children who made the call and 
also on the part of the pupil whose project was good 
enough to be visited. 

The great problem is to keep the child interested until 
he reaches the place where his project is of educational 
value to him. If he starts a garden, for example, he is 
likely to lose interest after ten days or a couple of weeks. 
The definite school attention given his project will help 
overcome the laziness and lack of persistence of the 
average child. When the atmosphere of home achieve- 
ment is made to pervade the school and is kept there 
throughout the year, good results are bound to follow. 
We must make this work a vital part of our teaching 
and must not fear to give it regular school time if it is to 
succeed. Its value in the proper development of chil- 
dren is so great that any amount of time properly spent 
in this way will not be wasted. 

Exhibits. A method which is certain to stimulate home 
projects is to have several exhibits of combined school and 
home work during the year. One in the middle of the year 
and one at the end of the year, or one every three months 
will provide good stimulus. A single exhibit at the end 
of the year is not worth much, for school being out, the 
spirit created results in no action. The exhibit in the 
middle of the year will afford suggestions to the school 
and the community which will be carried out in prep- 
aration for another one coming. Those who have 
shown good results will be encouraged to do even better 
in order to reveal improvement^ and those who have not 



74 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

been able to do very much will receive suggestions from 
this first exhibit. 

There is a special advantage in having children to- 
gether after an exhibit of this kind ; they talk for 
weeks about the different objects of interest, and teach 
each other how to succeed at the various projects. 
The greatest excitement I ever saw among school chil- 
dren was caused by a home school exhibit given in the 
middle of the year by the training school at Greeley, 
Colorado. The materials were brought Thursday eve- 
ning and Friday morning. The different grades appointed 
committees to arrange their space, and the children and 
people of the town were admitted Friday afternoon and 
Saturday. Interest was so great and enthusiasm ran so 
high that some of the teachers voted against a second 
exhibit because they thought it would cause " over- 
stimulation." Any teacher who will carefully organize 
his school and community and carry out two or three of 
these exhibits during the year will be fully convinced of 
the power of this method to generate interest. 

If prizes are given, care should be taken to prevent 
rivalry and jealousy. It is better to give a large number 
of inexpensive awards than a few that are costly. The 
task of organizing the prize system in a way that will 
avoid injustice and the resulting dissatisfaction is a dif- 
ficult one, and unless plenty of time can be given to it, 
it may be better to have the exhibits without awards. 
Exhibits succeed well either way. 



CHAPTER IV 
MOTIVES 

In bringing children to the place where they under- 
stand that school work is provided for their benefit and 
is not imposed upon them, the modern school has made 
it possible to teach a great deal more in the same time 
than did the traditional school. The subject matter that 
is taught is also more effective in fitting the child for life. 
Thus a double gain has been brought about by motivation. 

Satisfying Needs 

Some Problems in Satisfying Needs. The funda- 
mental feature in motivating school work for children 
is to select subject matter in accordance with their needs 
and to show them that they need it. There are three 
definite problems which the teacher must face in doing 
this. 

1. He must constantly study his class. Each group 
of children will present its special problem for the live 
teacher. Until he has made a survey of their capacities, 
he cannot proceed with his instruction. His course may 
be before him, but he knows that much time will be 
wasted and many children may be turned against the sub- 
ject or receive a bad start if he plunges them into it with- 

75 



76 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

out first adjusting it to their needs. The first problem 
is to make a survey of the class. Following this a con- 
stant study of the different individuals will be necessary. 
The human beings we teach must ever be kept in mind 
when we plan the work they are to do. 

2. The course of study should first of all provide for 
the definite needs of those who are to follow its require- 
mentS; but it must also be constantly readjusted in ac- 
cordance with these needs. The teacher may have little 
to do with the shaping of the coui*se and may be required 
to teach one that has been made for him. In such a 
case he will have to devote his energies to readjustments. 
ThuS; instead of blindly teaching his course^ he will 
study it constantly with the idea of reshaping different 
parts to make them effective in overcoming specific 
weaknesses of the children or useful in satisfying their 
growing ambitions for learning or improvement. 

3. A special feature of method is the harmonization in 
the minds of the children of the course of study with their 
own specific needs. A large amount of time may profit- 
ably be spent in this harmonizing process^ for after it 
is once accomplished, the capacity of the class is so much 
increased that results are not to be compared with work 
done by a spiritless group which feels that it is merely 
performing tasks to satisfy the teacher or the school 
authorities. The average child, when he sees that he 
really needs to know that which he is required to learn, 
is likely to learn a great deal of it without the aid of a 
teacher. His entire school life is in this way placed 



MOTIVES 77 

upon a higher plane. He reaUzes where he is going and 
is Ukely to exert himself not only in trying to get there 
but also in devising special ways of getting there. 

More Reliance upon Children^ It is often surprising 
to what degree children realize what is good for them 
and how willing they are to do ordinary school work 
when they are allowed to initiate it instead of being re- 
quired to do it without consideration. To most adults 
who love freedom a task laid on from the outside is irk- 
some; and many grown men and women say they felt the 
same way when they were children. / Mark Twain may 
be taken as an example. He said he always disliked 
anything which bore the resemblance of a yoke. ^^ Tax- 
ation without representation " was given as the cause of 
the Revolution in America. The colonists maintained 
that they would have been glad to do anything for the 
mother country which a body of their own representa- 
tives should decide was right. 

'C A mistake of school teachers has been to impose tasks 
upon children who are willing to do these very tasks but 
who immediately rebel when forced into them. It al- 
ways takes the joy out of good work to be robbed of the 
responsibility for it. We must take the time to allow 
rather than require children to learn. ;• Education after 
this intelligent method is certain to be more lasting than 
it was under the old suspicious regime^ which created 
many of its own difficulties by its coercive methods. 

Illustrations in Arithmetic. A teacher in the second 
grade found that her course suggested that the children 



78 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

learn the combinations to twenty, the multipHcation 
tables to the fours, acquire some basic ideas in liquid, 
dry, and linear measures, learn to a certain extent the 
values of different pieces of money, and solve the easier 
examples in making change. She first made a study of 
the class and found, as is always the case, that many of 
the children already knew a great deal of the subject 
matter thus prescribed, that some of them knew a little 
of it, and others had no arithmetic knowledge at all. 
This took about two periods at the beginning of each new 
topic. As each division of the subject was taken up, the 
necessity for learning it was explained to the children. 
They were allowed to talk freely about the value of 
knowing how to add and subtract, how to measure, make 
change, etc. A marked interest in these values was 
shown, and a better working spirit resulted. Some of the 
children came to school with lessons prepared in ad- 
vance, showing that they had been working at home. 
One boy learned all his multiplication tables. There 
was a lack of response on the part of a few. The special 
failings of these were studied by the teacher. These 
children were told of their weaknesses and in overcom- 
ing them they were afforded a special motive for doing 
hard work. 

Children in the eighth grade may even take part in 
discovering their own needs. An illustration of such 
work and its results is given in the words of the teacher : 

While studying the individual needs of my class I re- 
quested each individual to keep in a notebook a record of his 



MOTIVES 



79 



daily work. Four days a week we graded the papers in class 
and one day I graded them and returned the papers to the 
children. Our work was in interest and our problem was to 
develop the ability to get correct answers. In his notebook 
each child kept track of the special difficulties which made 
him inaccurate. The faults were divided into three types, 
(1) carelessness, (2) mistakes in method, and (3) mistakes in 
addition, division, multiplication, or subtraction (if these 
occurred in fractions or decimals it was noted). I collected 
these notebooks once each month, and the children by fol- 
lowing their notes soon found wherein they were weak. Many 
of them would come to me and talk about their peculiar mis- 
takes. There were, of course, a few who did not seem to 
care, but even these were more interested after they had 
learned just why they were not accurate. They knew that 
their lessons were designed to meet their specific needs, and 
that they were not being imposed upon by being required to 
work useless problems. 

A page from one of these books is included here for illus- 
tration. 





Problems 
Attempted 


Correct 


Care- 
lessness 


Method 


Mistakes 




Add. 


Div. 


Mul. 


Sub. 


Sept. 9 
Sept. 10 
Sept. 11 
Sept. 12 
Sept. 13 
Sept. 16 


4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 


1 

3 
2 
1 
4 
1 


2 

1 
2 
2 

3 




2 

3 
1 


1 

l(dec.) 




1 
1 

1 



This boy soon found that his arch enemy was carelessness. 
By watching himself closely he was able to improve in his 



80 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

average score in accuracy. This record furnished a motive 
for increased effort. 

Following this procedure we were not long in eliminating 
all difficulties in method. Our chief problem soon became 
one of eliminating carelessness. Addition was a stumbling 
block because the pupils forgot to "carry." The zest showed 
by the entire group in discovering and striving to eliminate 
the sources of their failures was encouraging. 

Tenacity on the part of the teacher is essential in the 
successful development of such a plan. After a week or 
two the class is likely to drift back to the old slovenly 
program of working without any definite end in view. 
This is very likely to occur when the teacher does not 
keep the children's records in mind or give them due at- 
tention during the class periods. When the children 
understand that the plan is going to be a definite part of 
their work^ and when their records are given due atten- 
tion by the teacher, they will settle down to a study of 
themselves which is likely to carry over into life. After 
a month or two has passed, enough data to give the child 
an indication of his special weaknesses will have been 
accumulated. Overcoming these self-discovered defi- 
ciencies is usually sufficient motive for good hard work 
on his part without further stimulation by the teacher. 
However, there will always be a few who will not respond 
to treatment of this nature. There is no rosy road to 
success in practice. ( Many teachers fail because they 
expect their schemes to work without friction from the 
very beginning. Sometimes they merely propose them 



MOTIVES 81 

to the children and expect them to blossom and bear 
fruit without further work. We cannot repeat too often 
that the persistence of the teacher in continuing any 
good plan until it begins to show results is essential to 
its success. ^ 

A fifth-grade teacher gave attention to the large num- 
ber of occasions for adding, dividing, multiplying, and 
subtracting fractions in the local community. Three 
boys were making a garden together. How were they 
going to divide the products so that each would have his 
proper share? The class decided to give flowers which 
cost a dollar to one of their number who was sick. What 
amount should each child pay ? The teacher then offered 
to pay half as much as the class. Did they know now 
how to discover what each should pay? Once or twice 
each week a part of a period was given over to a discus- 
sion of the need for learning fractions. Examples from 
the community which the children needed to know how 
to solve were brought in by them and the teacher. The 
result was a class which knew that it was learning some- 
thing of value. These values were constantly kept in 
mind throughout the year, and whenever a child found 
that he could use his knowledge of fractions in his daily 
life, he was given opportunity to tell of it at school. 

Decimals may be, and are in many places, taught in the 
same way. Our chief use of decimals is found in trans- 
actions which involve money. Children in the fifth and 
sixth grades where decimals are usually taught often take 
part in transactions involving money. One teacher 



82 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

found that a large number of problems which would show 
the children their need for decimals could be discovered 
by calculating the cost of articles which the children 
wanted to buy or had bought. Part of a period once 
and sometimes twice a week was given over to a discus- 
sion of these needs. The prices of roller skates, sleds, 
dolls, mittens, etc., were investigated by the children, 
who came to class with accurate data collected from the 
stores. Definite needs for knowing how to add, divide, 
multiply, and subtract these figures, which involved 
decimals, were revealed in this way. 

As an introduction to a study of interest a class was 
allowed to make a study of the uses of interest in the 
community. They found that liberty bonds were to run 
for a certain number of years at 4 per cent. Persons of 
their room had purchased several of these. How much 
were their profits to be ? Many of them found that their 
fathers had borrowed money at different times and that 
interest was charged for this. One boy heard his father 
tell a man that his home didn't pay in a financial way, for 
it yielded only about 4 per cent after taxes and repairs had 
been deducted. The work he had been having in class 
caused him to notice such a statement. He brought the 
entire problem to school. Several of the families rep- 
resented were paying for homes on the installment plan. 
The children were soon convinced that it was necessary 
to know how to solve interest problems in order to suc- 
ceed in a financial way. In other words they realized 
that they needed the very work they were doing in school. 



♦ MOTIVES 83 

It must be kept in mind that such problems cannot 
be found in sufficient numbers to furnish all the drill the 
class may need. The work, at least under present school 
conditions; seems to succeed best when the life needs of 
the children are brought in now and then to let them see 
that their regular work is developing abilities which they 
are going to need in life. 

Needs in Writing. It is not difficult to collect from the 
local community many examples of the necessity for 
rapid and legible penmanship. First of all the child will 
want to write real letters. This furnishes a splendid 
motive for most children through the fourth grade. 
The teacher allows them to write letters at school to 
friends and relatives. They practice in order to be able 
to write these letters quickly and legibly, and great zest 
is usually taken in the work because they feel that they 
are doing it with some definite and useful purpose. 

Above the fourth grade the vocational motive may be 
relied upon to furnish stimulation to the majority of 
children. They may be asked to bring to class the needs 
which their parents find for writing. Special incidents 
are related about certain persons who wished that they 
could write better. The Ayres scale may be taken by 
the children to the business men of the town, who are 
usually willing to underline the degree of perfection which 
should be reached for success in their particular occupa- 
tion. With these local needs before them the children 
have good reasons for trying to improve their writing. 

When a score of seventy is made, the child should be 



84 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

excused from further practice. Little difficulty in the 
way of motivation will be found when this definite goal 
is added to the study of the local needs for swift and 
legible writing. The children know that their work has 
been designed to satisfy their needs and that when they 
have achieved the degree of success that is necessary 
they will not be required to practice further. 

Language Based upon Local Needs. In the four 
lower grades the children are easily made to understand 
that they must be able to speak fluently and accurately 
if others are going to comprehend what they say. There 
should be a large amount of story telling by the children 
to each other in these grades, and the motive and pur- 
pose of it all is to develop their ability to tell stories in a 
way that will interest the group. A child has a definite 
reason for preparing his story and saying well what he 
has to say when his success depends upon his ability 
to please the class. 

Written expression may be motivated in the same way 
as writing. The children should constantly be made to 
understand that what they write will be read by someone 
and that they must learn how to write accurately and 
fluently, else those to whom they write will not know what 
they are trying to say. 

These two motives furnish the basic reasons for oral 
and written speech throughout the grades and even in 
life. In the upper grades a great deal of speaking to his 
fellows should be required of every child. His written 
composition can be made a form of communication with 



MOTIVES 85 

the teacher and the rest of the class. The children are 
asked to tell and write of things which will interest the 
group, and the reaction of the group is made the criterion 
of the success of the speech or composition. 

As in the other subjects a study of the community 
will show many needs for being able to speak and write 
well. The children may be allowed to discover that the 
lawyer, the minister, and even the business man are 
called upon to make speeches ; that the first two are 
quite dependent upon their ability to speak. Many ex- 
amples of times when local persons wished they could 
speak better can be collected in any community. The 
necessity for being able to express oneself accurately in 
writing may be shown by finding business men in the 
community who have selected special persons from a 
large number of applicants because of their well-expressed 
letters. It will be found that others have not been se- 
lected because they wrote poorly composed letters. Many 
persons are now earning money by writing for maga- 
zines. Children who appear to have gifts should be 
encouraged by being told that they may be able to do 
something like this. In a certain small town the local 
newspaper gives the boys and girls who excel in their Eng- 
lish, positions as reporters when they graduate from high 
school. In the last ten years fully a dozen of these boys 
have become editors of newspapers, and a large number 
of others have become reporters for dailies in the cities. 
This practice has furnished the basis for better English com- 
position in the upper grades and high school of this town. 



86 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Former graduates of a school; the grown-up brothers 
and sisters who have taken commercial courses and 
have obtained good positions and find the ability to 
compose fluently and accurately very essential to suc- 
cess, are often willing to come and talk to the children 
about the necessity for learning to write well early in life. 

In grammar grades every means at the teacher's dis- 
posal should be used to foster self-criticism and the study 
by the child of his own peculiar needs in English. A 
notebook like that suggested for arithmetic should be 
kept. In this will soon be collected the special points 
in expression^ punctuation, spelling, etc., which cause 
him trouble. He should be encouraged and stimulated 
to make his oral and written work focus upon these 
needs. Then when he writes and speaks or studies 
punctuation and grammatical construction, he will know 
that he is working with the definite goal of overcoming 
his own weaknesses in a subject which is essential to his 
larger success in life. 

A few notes from a '^ Self-Study Book " of an eighth- 
grade girl are given here for illustration : 

FEBRUARY 

Oral Written 

Date 

3d Too many ands and whys 7 
their for him 3. 
Number of pronouns 
set for sit 
hasnH come (not came) 



MOTIVES 



87 



Oral 



Date 
7th 



9th Too many ands 6 

(T. suggests that I should 
try to have in mind what I am 
going to say, for the and shows 
that I stop to think in the 
middle of my sentence.) 

their for him 2 

{Someone is singular and 
should be followed by a singu- 
lar pronoun.) 

saw not seen for past 

(This is just habit, for I 
know better.) 

12th Too many ands 2 

(Teacher said that my 
speech was free from ands 
in the first half which showed 
that when I had prepared I 
didn't need to over-use them.) 

14th 



Written 

Comma 5 

Spelling 

until (not two Us) 
committee (double in 
every case) 

paragraph 3 



Comma 5 

(In a series, like John, 
Henry, and I, I must 
always have a comma 
before and.) 

spelling 



88 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Enough has been given to show the method used. 

The value of this scheme has been proven. For three 
years I regularly observed oral Enghsh and collected all 
the compositions written by eighth-grade children in the 
Training School at Greeley. Children wrote themes 
throughout the first year and constantly made the same 
mistakes, although they were plainly marked and the 
usual method of teaching the correct forms was used. 
In six months, with the definite self-study campaign and 
the individual notebook in use, a very noticeable gain in 
both interest and results could be seen. 

Getting the children to keep these books is rather dif- 
ficult at first. They must be taught to write well in 
them and keep them in good form. The expression and 
punctuation in them should be graded at least every 
three weeks, and definite attention given to them in the 
regular class periods. When properly handled by the 
teacher they soon become a great source of interest for 
the children and furnish a splendid motive for the im- 
provement of written and oral English. The form given 
in the illustration was finally evolved as providing full 
opportunity for recording all mistakes and comments of 
value and at the same time picturing accurately the 
child's progress in eliminating them. The numbers after 
the entries indicate the number of times the mistake was 
made in a speech or a composition on that day. 

These books were found to be very helpful to the 
teacher. He, as well as the children, can tell by them 
whether or not improvement is going on. A special 



MOTIVES , 89 

caution is necessary to the teacher who expects daily 
improvement, for children are likely to be erratic in their 
progress. A child may make a very bad record after 
several weeks of apparent improvement, and while this 
should not be overlooked, too much can be made of it. 
Progress in written and oral English comes slowly, and 
many failures and what seem to be backward steps will 
have to be encountered. The teacher must also be 
very careful in grading and be sure of himself in mark- 
ing mistakes, for nothing is more confusing to children 
than the failure of the teacher to mark the same way 
twice. 

Children's Needs in Reading. When the child is learn- 
ing to read, it is not difficult to keep him reminded that 
a new world will be opened to him as soon as he has 
gained the ability to interpret the printed page. His 
attention should constantly be called to signs and printed 
matter which he meets in daily life. When stories are 
told him, he should be told that as soon as he can read, 
he will be able to get thousands of stories from books. 
A thoughtful teacher can find material in any commu- 
nity which will be useful in keeping before children their 
need for learning to read. 

An illustration of motivation of this type is found in 
the work of the Horace Mann School and is described in 
Teachers College Record.^ The two basic ideas in the 
work are : (l) the provision of material which will lead 
the child to see his need for reading, and (2) the selection 

1 Sept. 1916, pp. 330-343. 



90 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

of those materials which have the strongest appeal and 
are the most effective. The quotations which follow are 
taken from this article. 

The first definite step in the work was to acquaint the 
children with their own names in printed form. . . . Some 
difficulty had been experienced in distinguishing the proper 
chairs for individual children according to their size, and we 
decided to print their names on cards and fasten these to the 
backs of the chairs. . . . The children needed but a few 
minutes to learn the appearance of their own names and they 
never made a mistake afterwards. Several children soon 
learned to recognize other names as well as their own. 

Boxes of colored crayons had been distinguished up to 
this time, by a paper of the proper color pasted on the ends of 
the boxes. ... An outfit of No. 17 Superior Type was 
provided, and in the holder which is furnished, the words 
red, yellow, blue, green, etc. were set up. The children did 
the printing, which is simply a stamping process, and cut 
the labels and pasted them on the boxes. 

A key card was made on which were pasted squares of 
paper of various colors. The names of the colors were printed 
beside the squares. Separate small cards each containing a sin- 
gle colored square and other cards of the same size each con- 
taining a corresponding word were provided. The puzzle was to 
match up all the colors and words, using the key card first 
and then discarding it. This puzzle was very popular. . . . 
Many other puzzles involving the reading of words, phrases, 
or sentences were invented, and in all of them the element of 
individual control was present so that the children could use 
them entirely alone and know whether work was correct or not. 

Reading, making, and using signs offered a rich field for 



MOTIVES 91 

interesting activity. Signs, which are everywhere about the 
child in a city environment, are an early source of interest 
in the printed symbol. Often in connection with their build- 
ing with the big floor blocks the children made crude attempts 
at reproducing such signs as For Rent, Bank, and Keep Out. 
It was not at all uncommon for them to notice the signs about 
the school and college buildings and in the neighborhood and 
to attempt to find out what they told. They always asked 
about a placard that was occasionally placed on the door of 
the room announcing, ''This room is not open to visitors 
to-day," picked out the different words and asked what they 
were. They discovered the meaning of the words Push, 
Pull, In, Out, and showed interest in such signs as, Take East 
Elevator, Take West Elevator, Please Keep off the Grass, and 
many others. 



The children also made signs for themselves. Several 
small sets of type, which are inexpensive, were bought. With 
these outfits the children love to print their own names, vari- 
ous signs for their dwellings, stores, hotels, boats, engine houses, 
banks, and other enterprises. 

Other environmental interests were drawn upon for ma- 
terial. Matching names to pictures, reading descriptions of 
pictures in story books, etc. 

It is interesting to note that the teachers in the Horace 
Mann School place even greater stress upon motivation 
and the interest aroused in the children than they do upon 
immediate results ; and this is right, for the realization 
of their need for reading will cause children to learn and 
grow when they are not in school. In the description of 
results we find : 



92 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Other much more important results than the remembering 
of words (although this was not neglected) in beginning read- 
ing were accomplished. The children's consciousness of the 
significance of reading and of its importance to them was 
increased. . . . They turned eagerly to books without the 
slightest pressure from the teachers and showed great per- 
sistence in mastering the difficulties encountered. 

An Informal Attitude Is Necessary when Needs Are 
Made the Basis of Study. It goes without saying that 
all unnecessary formalities must be discarded if children 
are to be taught to discover their need for what they are 
taught. The modern school is likely to grade the ques- 
tioning child higher than the one who servilely follows 
directions. '' What is its use to me? " or " Why do I 
need to know that? " is a very appropriate question for 
children to ask. The child's learning is put upon a 
higher plane when he begins to ask such questions and to 
consider his school tasks in this light. He should be 
encouraged in this, not regarded as a nuisance on account 
of it. 

This attitude may be illustrated in problems of dis- 
cipline, for it is here that unnecessary formalities occur 
most often. The teacher and the children may right- 
fully question the need for such practices as the follow- 
ing : 

1. Forming in straight lines at the door whenever a 
group leaves the room. 

2. Marching like soldiers when moving about within 
the school building or on an excursion. 



MOTIVES 93 

3. Sitting with fingers interlocked on the desk when 
assigned tasks are completed or when waiting. 

4. The prohibition of whispering, idling in the school- 
room, etc. 

In all these cases the children should be taught that 
they are not formal duties and may be dispensed with 
as soon as it is clear that they are not needed. If the 
pupils can come into the building in an orderly way on 
their own accord, they should be allowed to do so with- 
out military requirements. They should be allowed to 
speak to each other when they show that they can do 
so without disturbing their own work or that of the 
room. Freedom of any sort should be limited only when 
a definite need for such Hmitations can be revealed to 
the children. 

Discipline is thus motivated when the children reahze 
that it is necessary. A splendid motive is furnished 
them to act as they should do when by so acting they are 
relieved of unnecessary restraint. Disciphne then be- 
comes the same in school as in life, for the reason for civil 
laws is that they prevent individuals from interferinc: 
with others and society at large. When one shows that 
he needs them, artificial restraints are imposed upon 
him by these laws. 

Psychological Moments May Serve as Motives 

When something special is happening in the commu- 
nity, when the children are doing something outside of 
school, or when a child has made an important discovery. 



94 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

school work is motivated by connecting these occasions 
with it. This will necessitate a flexible application of 
the course of study, but courses of study are made to be 
adjusted. When they are rigidly followed in logical se- 
quence, motivation is hard to secure. A fact that is well 
motivated can be taught '^ out of order " and will be re- 
membered and used. Illustrations of the use of psy- 
chological moments in different subjects follow : 

Hygiene. Suppose it has been discovered that the 
city water is contaminated. Notices appear in the 
papers that it is not fit to drink without being boiled. 
In both civics and hygiene the classes go to studying 
the water question. They learn a great deal about 
pure water, its necessity, the reason why water is some- 
times impure, and how the city may go about insuring 
pure water for the people. 

A contagious disease has broken out in the neighbor- 
hood. It may be measles, German measles, scarlet 
fever, or some other disease. It is made the basis for a 
study of contagious diseases, the laws that have been 
passed in the city and state in regard to them, and 
the duties of citizens in case they or their families are 
affected. 

A child is burned. The burn is treated and made 
the reason for a study of burns. A child cuts his hand. 
The occasion is used to teach hygienic care of wounds. 

Arithmetic. The assessor is calling at different homes. 
The occasion is used to teach taxes. As much is made 
of the local tax situation as possible. 



MOTIVES 95 

The farmers are selling or storing their corn, wheat, 
beets, etc. Markets, prices, and the contrasted ad- 
vantages of selling and storing are studied. 

There is a liberty bond campaign on. This is used 
as a motive for studying percentage, bonds, etc. 

The prices of food, clothing, and shelter have increased 
during the war. This is used as a motive for figuring 
costs. Investigations are made and the problems dis- 
covered are used in the classes. 

It is time to plant a garden. What will it cost before 
it is finished? It is Christmas. What will the cele- 
bration of the holidays cost ? What does a Thanksgiving 
dinner cost? 

Geography. The war in Europe furnishes motivation 
for almost all the geography that can be taught. What 
effect upon the war would the entry of Holland have had ? 
What was the real significance in territory, men, guns, sup- 
plies, etc., of the Russian collapse? What would Pan- 
Germany have been if the hopes of the Junkers had 
been realized, etc., etc. ? There are plenty of psychologi- 
cal moments here. 

McMurry used the Mexican situation to motivate a 
study of Mexico. Should the United States intervene 
in Mexico ? This furnished a basis for gaining a knowl- 
edge of the country, for no one could answer intelli- 
gently without being acquainted with conditions in 
Mexico. 

The increasing cost of automobile tires may bring up 
the question of the rubber industry. The price of shoes 



96 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

may bo related to the hide situation. Wool, cotton, etc., 
have the same local connections. 

Woodwork. 1 {('pairs are necessary in the school. 
The class in woodwork makes th(;rn. ('hairs are needed 
for the primary class. They are made; in the school shop. 
A play is to ])(^ givc.Ti. I'hc woodwork classes make the 
e(|uipnierit, c^tc. 

Home Economics. Orange marmalade is made for the 
soldiers. Dr(;ss(;s are made for an orphan asylum. The 
girls ikkmJ dresses. They make them. Other illustra- 
tions could be given. 

History. An (Section campaign is going on. Political 
parties are studied in school and the election used as a 
constant motives Thcj war, (jf course, furnishes motive 
for evc^rything lic^re. 

Instincls, Inlerestfi, and Play an Motives 

Th(.' factor of ii(n;(;ssity lias b(!(;n placed first in this 
discussion because.' the n(JC(^ssary work of the school 
should not })e interrupted })y motivation (entirely through 
instincts, int(irests, and play. Back of any oth(;r motive 
we must constantly ke(;p in the child's mind a realization 
of the need in \\\('. for what he is learning. Then if w(^ can 
make; th(i work nion^ interesting in tlie immediate sense, 
so much th(; better, and motivation cannot be mistaken, 
as it sometimes is, for a substitute for school work rather 
than a powerful aid and a necessary basis for it. The 
fundamental feature of motivation is i\\i) realization by 
the learner of his need for that which he is learning. 



CHAPTER V 
THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 

Interest a Universal Doctrine. It would not be over- 
stating the case to say that every great teacher has be- 
Heved in and practiced some form of the doctrine of in- 
terest. I have at hand quotations subscribing to its use 
from Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, Latini, Comenius, 
Rabelais, Vittorino, Kant, Froebel, Herbart, Meumann, 
Hall, Dewey, Suzzallo, McMurry, Thorndike, Judd, 
Burnham, and a large number of others. Practically no 
one of importance has taken issue with the principle ; the 
following quotation is an explanation of practice. 

" The Francis W. Parker School [Chicago] stands for 
the proposition that work to be really profitable need 
not be irksome, but, on the contrary, where interest is 
stimulated, habits of attention and industry are more 
easily formed and are more enduring than where the 
reluctant mind is urged to tasks the uses of which are 
not understood. This does not mean that the distinc- 
tion between work and play is to be confused. The same 
positive and sustained effort, the same persistence, deter- 
mination, and concentration — and the development of 
these qualities is essential to education — are required 
by the child in his work as by the adult in his ; the in- 
H 97 



98 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

centive of interest is felt by each, not as turning work 
into play but as making work pleasant." 

In the directions to the teachers of the Indianapolis 
public schools the following statements may be regarded 
as furnishing the basic principles : 

^' The primary requisite is a teacher with intelligence, 
sympathy, ingenuity, spirit, and, withal, the power to 
interest children. 



" The wise teacher guides but does not repress. The 
child will master the more difficult tasks as well as the 
easier ones provided he works under the stimulus of 
interest." 

These statements might be taken as representative of 
the attitude of those in control of practically every 
large city in the United States, while the superintendents 
of a great many smaller cities as well are stressing in- 
terest in their instructions to teachers. The two quo- 
tations which follow are chosen at random and represent 
what might have been taken from any one of a hundred 
other sources. 

'' The English class admits the child to a world of 
beauty and new interests." Berkeley, California, Course 
of Study of the Intermediate Schools, Section on English. 

'^ For the word artist, in its widest acceptation, means 
to me the man who takes pleasure in what he does. 
So it would be desirable were there artists in all trades 
— artist carpenters, happy in skillful raising of beam and 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 99 

mortise, artist masons, spreading plaster with pleasure, 
artist carters, proud of caring for their horses, and of 
not running over those in the street. Is it not true that 
they would constitute an admirable society? " Quota- 
tion from Rodin, and given as the basis of art work in a 
report of the Kankakee, Illinois, public schools. 

Practical Features 

Practical Use Difficult. Anyone who has conscien- 
tiously tried to interest a group of live boys and girls 
knows that it is a many-sided problem. The student 
in the normal school is taught the/' fundamental neces- 
sity " of interest in instruction and at the end of his 
methods course is fairly bubbling with enthusiasm to 
apply this new philosophy. He goes out to teach arith- 
metic, grammar, or whatever the subject may be and 
finds this " fundamental necessity " the most conspicu- 
ously and continuously absent of all teaching requisites. 
What shall he do? 

Teachers Form Wrong Attitudes. It is to be feared 
that a large per cent of our teachers adopt one of two 
evils. One group soon sees the uselessness of training 
in pedagogy and ceases to attempt to use it, resorting to 
continued coercion, scolding, and prodding to obtain the 
desired results. The other group goes to the extreme of 
developing interest through continuous entertainment. 
In fact, some find difficulty in seeing anything in the in- 
terest idea aside from entertainment by the teacher. 
A young lady who was doing her practice teaching was 



100 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

recently heard to say, '■' My training teacher continues 
to demand that the children be interested in their geog- 
raphy, and I fear I shall have nervous prostration if I 
have to keep that class interested much longer. I have 
tried field trips and found them interested, but not in 
the subject at hand. I have tried every method of con- 
ducting the class I can think of. I guess I shall have to 
stand on my ear for them to-day." 

But the Teacher Must not Confuse Interest with Dis- 
cipline. No teacher can hold the attention of a class 
day after day unless he is able to discipline them when 
the necessity arises. Requirements and coercion are 
necessary elements in teaching school even upon the 
interest basis, but they do not do away with the neces- 
sity of interest. Also the ability of the teacher to radi- 
ate inspiration, to hold the attention of the children 
through force of character is just as necessary. Interest 
should always help in disciplining a school; but other 
means may be necessary at times. 

Knowledge of Children Fundamental. AVith both of 
these abilities stated as being essential in the successful 
teacher, we are ready to study the problems of teaching 
as they are related to the interests of the children. Here 
lies a rich field, and ample rewards will come to any 
teacher who enters it. Knowledge of the inner life of 
the pupils, or the lack of it, determines the majority of 
successes or failures in the teaching world to-day. 

'^ I tremble," said Jean Paul Richter, " when I see 
some rough grown-up hand blundering with these tender 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 101 

buds from childhood's garden, marring the bloom here 
and disturbing the deHcacy of structure there." 

In order not to go astray the teacher should have a clear 
understanding of interest before he attempts to apply it. 
He must consider such questions as its values, why he is 
applying it, its limits, and its many and sometimes con- 
tradictory phases. These working principles, as deter- 
mined by successful practice, are outlined as follows : 

I. Interest Is Basic but Needs Adult Guidance. The 
interests of the child are one of nature's provisions for his 
guidance. What is interesting to him is in a general 
sense likely to be good for him. It is to be kept in mind 
that he is not a piece of plastic clay depending upon the 
teacher for his formation. He is a creature with inner 
life, desires, and interests of his own. He is a product 
of the centuries, a creation of evolution, and he is still 
evolving. All his education is to be a process of inner 
reaction to external stimuli. Education is to emancipate 
his powers. It can create nothing within him. Inner 
reaction is always necessary in the learning of any truth 
or in the development of any ability. 

Nature has also supplied the child with other means 
of guidance. He lives through a long period of immatur- 
ity, during which he is more or less feeble and plastic. 
He is made to be dependent upon parents, teachers, and 
society. One of his chief interests lies in his desire for 
human companionship, his need of adults, and his natural 
obedience to them. This fact does not conflict with the 
use of his interests in his development, but is one of the 



102 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



1 



most evident of those interests. Consider the following 
examples : 

It will be found that most children are interested in 
all school work when they enter school, indicating that 
their natural tendencies are in harmony with learning. 
In refusing to work with these natural interests and 
guide rather than oppose them the school often develops 
a distaste in children for learning. Some statements 
of children on this point are : 

^' I like to read but not in school." 

^' I love flowerS; but I don't like them the way they 
are used in nature study." 

^^ I like to work with tools, but the work in manual 
training seems almost to suffocate me." 

In the olden-time school the children were often not 
in accord with their work because their interests were 
not considered. Those who were the brightest and 
most capable were the ones who were often most out of 
harmony with their teachers. It would be safe to say 
that a majority of the successful men and women of the 
past century were not enthusiastic in their school work. 
Their success was achieved by work outside the school 
under the inspiration and direction of parents, relatives, 
or friends. Hegel, Napoleon, Thackeray, Brow^ning, By- 
ron, Darwin, Edison, Burbank, Spencer, the Stevensons, 
Mark Twain, Riley, Ruskin, Goethe, Cardinal Wiseman, 
and Chatterton, are names which could be used to head 
a list of successful persons who were not successful in 
school. The list, if completed and made to include those 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 103 

who were fairly successful in life, would probably extend 
through the remainder of this book. 

The modern school, however, is bending its energies to 
discover as early as possible the special interests of the 
child. When these are found, all the work of the school 
is related to them. Thackeray or Mark Twain would 
have reveled in the work as carried on in many modern 
schools, and school authorities would not be long in dis- 
covering and developing their special powers. 

Illustrative Cooperation. The report of an eighth-grade 
teacher on guidance and interest properly combined is 
given below : 

" H. was interested in art. He wanted to draw every- 
thing. His ability in the school subjects was fair. 

^' I decided to encourage his art. I told him that if 
he would get his school work at home he could take our 
study hour for art, and that I would get the criticisms of 
an artist on his pictures. The scheme worked from the 
beginning. His interest in the school tasks was better 
and in art and painting his progress was almost spec- 
tacular. I later allowed him to take the arithmetic 
period on days when we were having drill problems and 
explanations of problems which had been previously tried 
by the class, upon his promising to give special atten- 
tion when he was there. It was understood that if he 
fell behind in the arithmetic he was to go back to the 
old way. He did not fall behind." 

There is a practice in some cities of allowing a child 
to take a special subject which is interesting to him and 



104 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

advance in this course as fast as he can regardless of his 
abilities in other lines. If he is especially interested in 
jewelry design, he may be allowed to continue with 
regular work in the sixth grade and take up special work 
in the high school. This is made a regular practice in 
many schools with the children who are over age. 

Result of Ignoring Interest. A child of this type 
might have been given a wrong start in life by being 
forced to work upon the school tasks in which he was 
retarded. The following illustration is a common case : 

Girl, age 15, in seventh grade. Has failed three times. 
Leaves school. Works in a laundry for five years. From 
the age of ten she had showed marked proficiency in art 
and in sewing. She was always happy when working at 
either of these. She continued to sew for herself, and now 
and then for others, until she was quite proficient. School 
authorities never paid any attention to her interests. 
After five years in the laundry she took up sewing in a 
department store. Gradually worked to the top during the 
ten years that followed. As she achieved one success after 
another, self-confidence, which had been lost in school, 
came back to her. She became known as one of the 
most capable employees of the store. Her interests in 
other fields increased. 

It had taken fifteen years to overcome the false start 
the school had given her. 

The first point in regard to interest is to utilize it but 
not follow it entirely in the work of the school. Wise 
guidance by adults must in no way be diminished, but 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 105 

the test of the wisdom of this guidance is the amount of 
inner reaction and zeal for the work displayed by children. 

2. Interest Leads to More Difficult Tasks. Interest in 
the normal child does not turn toward the easier tasks 
but involves hard work. Interest means more than just 
hard work, however. It means inner reaction to this 
work, causing the child to do his best not merely because 
he likes his teacher or is afraid of him. The pedagogy 
of interest urges continually the development of inde- 
pendence, self-realization, and will power (the inner force 
which drives the individual ahead without compulsion). 
It is never satisfied with the mere objective result, the 
completion of the task at hand, although this is, of course, 
essential ; but it looks to the development of the inner 
life of the individual as a result of his activities. 

Hard work, good work, interest, and happiness go to- 
gether. The old proverb, ^' Of course I know what 
happiness is for I have done good work," lies at the base 
of the pedagogy of interest. Every child who is real- 
izing his inner nature, his true self, is doing good hard 
work and enjoys it. 

Illustrations of Hard Work as a Result of Interest. 
During the last four years I have collected many in- 
stances of children doing a great deal more than the school 
required. They solved more than the number of arith- 
metic problems assigned. They wrote compositions 
when not asked to do so and begged to take their readers 
home in order to master a difficult selection or finish an 
interesting one. A good method of teaching reading, 



106 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

and especially upper-grade literature^ is to study a new 
book by reading only half of it in class, making it as in- 
teresting as possible. Then permit the children to take 
the book home and finish it. 

In the school at Greeley we found many of the chil- 
dren coming to school long before time to begin in the 
morning and staying in the evening as long as we would 
permit them to. 

The following are typical illustrations : 

Six eighth-grade girls dramatized one of their selec- 
tions in literature. They met in the evenings after 
school; asked the teacher to help them, and worked 
much harder than they did in any of the regular lessons. 

X came to school one morning with the multiplication 
tables all mastered. The grade in which he was work- 
ing did not require more than the fours (2d grade). 
He had learned them at home in order to " surprise " 
his teacher. 

A child wrote fifteen themes during a term when only 
ten were required. 

A boy who was considered lazy in school worked hard 
every evening in a home garden and studied his regular 
lessons better than before as a result of the teacher call- 
ing attention to his garden and recognizing its importance. 

Tom Sawyer made all sorts of disagreeable work en- 
joyable to his fellows by pretending that it was fun. 

John Locke found that top spinning would become 
disagreeable to a child if presented in the same manner 
as his school work. 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 107 

3. Use of Interest a Standard. Interest does not 
conflict with standardization but is a step beyond it. 
Where the standard is wrongs that is, when the stand- 
ard set up by adults is not a real measure of the most 
desirable ends of education, it is to the child's interest to 
ignore the standard. The great movement for tests and 
standardization that is now going on is just the experi- 
mental beginning of a new scientific treatment of results 
in education. It goes hand in hand with the larger move- 
ments to study children. The leaders of this movement do 
not intend to ignore child interest any more than the child 
student intends to ignore objective results of teaching. 

The teacher of to-morrow must know the standards 
of education as well as the interests of the children. 
Knowing both, he must harmonize them. The entire 
idea of standardization is centered in the problem 
of using the better schools as standards to which to 
bring up those that are not reaching children as they 
should. Tests and measurements are being developed 
to help in this work. The proper use of interest and the 
development of the better interests of children is one 
standard which may be universally applied, and which, 
if lacking, will prevent a school from taking its place 
among the better schools, no matter how many objective 
accomplishments its pupils may have. 

In surveying a school the following tests for interest 
may be used : 

1. What per cent of the children come early to school 
at mornings and noons? 



108 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

2. Tabulate carefully just what they do at these times. 

3. Ask each child to write down his ten favorite occu- 
pations, being sure to state that he is to include both 
those in school and those outside of the school. Study 
the influence of the school upon his choice of activity. 

4. Ask every child to write down the calling he intends 
to follow when he becomes a man. Have him explain 
why he has chosen as he did. 

5. What school subjects does he like best? Why? 
Which ones does he dislike most? Why? 

6. What books does he read at home? 
Get the extent of his reading. 

Books may be classified as A, B^ C, D, and E grade. 
It will help a teacher to make such a survey at the 
beginning of a school year and again at the end of the 
year. In comparing the two he can, to some extent, dis- 
cover the influence the year's work may have had upon 
the interests of the children. He is also furnished with 
data which may be worth a great deal in dealing with 
practically every problem which may arise in teaching all 
subjects and in the control of the school. A teacher who 
discovered that a child had a collection of butterflies at 
home made it the basis of a closer acquaintance with 
him. It furnished a concrete base for the transforma- 
tion from an indifferent, troublesome attitude into one 
of active interest and cooperation. 

4. In Absence of Interest Requirements Are Neces- 
sary until Interest Can Be Developed. In practicing the 
doctrine of interest one must admit that it is often neces- 



THE DOCTRINE OF INTEREST IN PRACTICE 109 

sary to force a child into a task before he will become in- 
terested in it. There is sometimes an inertia to be over- 
come. This plan is legitimate only when its limits are 
realized. Too often the advocate of such methods uses 
them upon all occasions and continues to coerce all 
through his teaching. If a child continually rebels against 
his school workj something is wrong, and a study of his 
peculiarities, his home life, and his parents will often 
give a clew to the difficulty. 

As an illustration of the development of an interest 
after a period of set requirements, let us consider the 
case of a boy in the lower grades who did not want to 
learn to read. The following is the teacher's report : 

Sept. 28. J does not apply himself. His health is good, 

and his handwork is excellent, but any task such as reading, 
arithmetic, or spelling seems to develop a nervousness in him. 
He plays with his hands, the muscles of his face twitch, and 
his entire body seems to rebel when he is required to apply 
himself mentally. 

Sept. 30. Decided, after trying my best and not being suc- 
cessful in interesting him, to require that he do the work 
assigned to the class each day, having him work during a 
part of the handwork period on his reading and arithmetic. 
Have not given up the idea of finally interesting him, however. 

Oct. 5. He is interested in finishing his tasks so that he may 
have full time for handwork. He is showing some improve- 
ment. 

Oct. 10. Was the best in the class to-day. I seized upon this 
opportunity and praised him highly. 

Oct. 21. Is showing interest in the subject matter that is 
being read. 



110 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Throughout the remainder of the year his work was 
considered good enough not to necessitate special reports, 
and he was promoted. In the next grade his teacher 
kept him interested but did not require good work in 
the subjects that were hard for him. She encouraged his 
handwork and allowed him to remain idle during the 
reading period. When he was called upon, he did poorly 
and was reported as backward in this subject. At the 
end of the year he was much behind his class, but, since 
the rules of the school forbade failing a child for deficiency 
in only one subject, he was promoted. 

His new teacher decided that she would make a special 
problem of him. She wrote a note to the parents asking 
them to come and confer with her. They came and she 
found them willing to cooperate. They reported that he 
never read at home, but that they would give him special 
practice for fifteen minutes each day in books selected 
by the teacher. Having discovered that he was inter- 
ested in ships, the ocean, and wild animals, she selected 
" The Swiss Family Robinson,'^ in a special edition of 
words of one syllable. This book was quite difficult 
for him. Following this the teacher and the parents 
kept before him the necessity of his learning to read 
and did everything they could to interest him. In all 
their work they did not scold or mistreat him on ac- 
count of his backwardness. The mother soon reported 
that he was showing a marked interest in the story of 
The Swiss Family and a decided improvement in his 
school work was noted. In six weeks he was reading 



THE DOCTRINE OP INTEREST IN PRACTICE 111 

widely and had become one of the best readers in his 
grade. 

Summary 

If a teacher keeps in mind the foregoing propositions, 
his practice of the doctrine of interest will surely produce 
good results, and he will be safe from running counter 
to other principles of education. For working con- 
venience these propositions may be summarized as be- 
low : (1) that interest is the central guiding principle in 
the child's life, but that it must be subjected to adult 
guidance ; (2) that interest requires hard work and is 
only a pseudo-interest if it turns to the easier tasks ; (3) 
that its use should raise the standard of a school and 
bring larger and better results as measured by accepted 
standards ; (4) that conflicting interests and apparent 
aptitudes to do wrong are a part of every child's make-up 
and must be dealt with in a helpful, far-sighted way ; 
and (5) that it is often necessary to require a child to do 
what is good for him until such time as his interest may 
be developed, remembering never to cease attempting to 
interest him. 



CHAPTER VI 
A SCHOOL SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 

Children Interested in School Subjects. If properly 
presented, subjects taught in school are interesting to 
children. In order to develop them in an interesting way 
the teacher must relate them to the developing interests 
of the children, must never do anything to make them 
disagreeable, never make the accomplishment of a school 
task a punishment, and always insist upon and bring 
out the joy there is in doing profitable work well. 

All subjects have some specially interesting features. 
These should be studied and brought to the front by the 
teacher. Let us consider the following illustrations : 

Arithmetic. Many children are natural mathemati- 
cians. AVhenever one is found the teacher should take 
special pains to keep the interest alive. Often by sug- 
gesting to the children that they might go ahead and 
learn a multiplication table, solve some advanced prob- 
lems, or some like work, the teacher' will find that chil- 
dren who have not been good at the regular work will 
take special interest and do surprisingly well. The best 
work is never accomplished until the development of the 
children is carefully investigated and their interests 

aroused. 

112 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 113 

Geography. When geography is made an acquaint- 
ance with the world and its life and connected with the 
everyday life of the child rather than a reading and re- 
citing of facts from a book, most children find it a re- 
markably interesting subject. They are interested in 
primitive life, the way children in other countries live, 
in how their own clothes were made and brought to 
them, and, above everything else, in travel. 

History. The knowledge of the development of 
peoples is a remarkably interesting subject. It must 
constantly be related to the child's own life at present. 
It must develop gradually from the purely individu- 
alistic into the social. It m.ust constantly have the 
personal touch. 

English Taught through Interests 

As an illustration, an extended discussion of teaching 
English through interests is given here. That every nor- 
mal child is interested in reading, speaking, and writing 
his mother tongue cannot be disputed. It is only when 
this work is made artificial that children object to it. 
The baby mumbles to himself and to any one else who 
will listen to him. Just as soon as he can wield a pen- 
cil, he wants to write. Just as soon as he learns to 
recognize a few letters, he wants to read them whenever 
he gets a chance, providing, of course, that some of his 
many other interests are not claiming his attention when 
a book is thrust upon him. 



114 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Poetry and Rhythm 

The most fundamental expression of the language in- 
terest is that of reading, memorizing, and constructing 
poetry. Rhythm, and especially word and song rhythm, 
appeals to the child shortly after birth. Geneticists 
have pointed out that the world and solar systems, the 
seasons, and even the days come and go in rhythm. In 
the child is born the rhythm of the heart and respiratory 
organs, and the love of rhythm ; his response to the sooth- 
ing melody of the lullaby may be his first automatic har- 
monizing with nature. The mother's instinct to sing to 
her child and rock him is nothing more than her un- 
conscious adaptation to his own rhythmical nature. 
The singing of the mother leads up to the nursery rhymes 
and Mother Goose stories which fit the nature of all 
normal children. When the child has become saturated 
with his Mother Goose, his literary education has gone 
far along its way. Most children in this period begin to 
construct verses of their own, and this is the beginning of 
literary composition. The child, like the race, begins, if 
he begins naturally, with composition in verse. His 
words come with the sway of his body or the patter of 
his feet or with the drumming of his hands. 

Let us take for example a few rhymes collected by 
Norman Triplett in his observation of a little girl. To- 
wards the age of three she began to make up rhymes. 
The first one was written down when she was just past 
her third year. Swinging her body as she hung to the 
bed post, she said : 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 115 

''I wis' I were a baby, 
And had a yittle scare, 
I'd jump upon the bed. 
And I wouldn't give a dare." 

On seeing a worm she made up the following : 

'Worm, worm, where have you been? 
I have been to grow in the nice warm ground, 
And I come to see you in a jaybenjay, 
And a seebensee and a seebensay." 

And with a bee for her subject, she broke out : 

"Wets dance a yittle song 
Said the yittle honey bee 
I'm a pretty yittle songer. " 



The next line was lost to the observer. 

Triplett observes that this child and her rhymes is but 
an illustration of what the great mass of children are 
doing. This is especially true of those who have been 
brought up on the better grades of child literature. 

Poetry in School Work. Throughout all the grades 
the average child is very fond of rhythm, alliteration; and 
the jingle of word accents. If in his school work they 
represent so much drudgery, most of the rhymes the 
child learns there are dropped as soon as he gets outside 
the door, although thei:e are quantities of jingles that 
he would gladly learn if his teacher would only look at 
that side of his nature and allow him to do so. When 
the school has failed to furnish something worth while 



116 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to utilize this energy, the child usually expends it in sing- 
ing some low-class rhythmic jumble, repeating to a dron- 
ing tune something like the following : 

''I know something and I won't tell 
Three little niggers in a peanut shell." 
or 

"Mary is mad and I am glad," etc. 

This does not entirely satisfy him, but since he does 
not have access to anything else, he sings away until he 
has sung the love for rhythm out of his soul, and it will 
be hard to revive it again. 

Educational Values. If plenty of good material is 
supplied, the children will revel in it, will read widely, 
memorize, and if encouraged, will compose verses. Their 
reading is in this way furthered, their sense of appreci- 
ation developed, and a motive is supplied for composition 
and writing. The exercise in composition may take up 
all the rules of punctuation, capitalization, etc., that are 
taught in the regular language lessons. It is not dif- 
ficult to get children to write, punctuate, and spell their 
very best in order to make their verses appear the best 
possible. 

Reading and Memorizing Poems. In every grade an 
impetus will be given to reading and literature work if a 
large amount of good poetry occupies a definite place. 
Children should be encouraged to memorize as many 
selections as they will, each child being allowed to choose 
his own selections. The teacher should know the selec- 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 117 

tions which he thinks will interest the class and should 
give them from memory as well as read them. Unless it 
is impossible to interest him in anything, a child should 
not be required to memorize. Many splendid poems are 
detested by the children because of enforced learning. 
We must constantly keep before us the idea that our 
purpose in teaching literature is to develop the child's 
natural interest in it and to lead this interest into new 
fields, developing an appreciation of the best literature. 
Memory work will not be successful until the children 
voluntarily carry it on. The teacher, of course, must 
give suggestions and make the recitation of memorized 
verses a regular part of the program. A child should 
never be required to memorize literature as a punishment. 
The following list of books contains child poetry suit- 
able for the first eight grades. The first ten furnish ample 
material and are preferred by the children. 



R. L. Stevenson, Child's Garden of 

Verses, 



E. F. Betts, 

Richards, 

Bellam}^ and 
Goodwin, 
Burt, 

Patmore, 



Mother Goose, The 

Complete, 
In My Nursery, 



Open Sesame, 

Poems Every Child 
Should Know, 

The Children's Gar- 
land of Verse, 



Rand,McNally& 
Company. 

Stoker 

Little, Brown & 
Company. 

Ginn & Co. 
Doubleday, Page 
& Co. 

Macmillan Co. 



118 MODERN 


ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 


PRACTICE 


Chisholm, 


The Golden Stair- 






case, 


Putnam's Sons. 


Shute, 


The Land of Song, 


Silver, Burdett 
&Co. 


Hazard, 


Three Years with the 


Houghton Mifflin 




Poets, 


Co. 


Tower, 


Gold Nuggets of 


Education 




Literature, 


Publishing 
Company. 


Lucas, 


Book of Verse for 






Children, 


Holt. 


Repplier, 


Book of Famous 


Houghton Mifflin 




Verse, 


Co. 


Whittier, 


Child Life in Poetry, 


Houghton Mifflin 
Co. 


Wiggin and 






Smith, 


Golden Numbers, 


McClure. 


Wheeler, 


Mother Goose 


Houghton Mifflin 




Rhymes, 


Co. 


Norton, 


Heart of Oak Books, 






1 and 2, 


Heath. 


Field, Eugene, 


Love Songs of Child- 






hood, 


Scribner's. 


Henley, 


Lyra Heroica, 


Scribner's. 


Bryant, 


New Library of 
Poetry and Song. 




Lear, Edward, 


Nonsense Book, 


Little, Brown, 
&Co. 


Wiggin and 






Smith, 


Posy King, 


Doubleday, Page 
&Co. 


Matthews, 


Poems of American 






Patriotism, 


Scribner's. 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 119 



Olcott, 
Rossetti, 
Field, Eugene, 



Story-Telling Poems, 

Sing Song, 

With Trumpet and 
Drum, 



Houghton, Mifflin 

&Co. 
Little, Brown, 

&Co. 

Scribner's. 



Composition in Verse. Children from the second 
grade through the eighth respond very readily to the 
suggestion that they write verses. A verse composition 
period every two weeks stimulates interest and there is 
usually an oversupply of material. Each child may 
have his poetry book in which he saves his best verses. 
The room may have a book in which the best products 
of the class are written down. If it is saved from year 
to year, this book will prove interesting to new classes 
and will inspire them to do their best in order to leave a 
good record for the next class. 

The following verses were taken from a fourth-grade book : 

Night, beautiful night. 

The Golden stars are shining 

Against the blue satin lining. 

The moon, whose face is so tender. 

Has dressed in silvery splendor. 

Oh, night, beautiful night. 
Thy dress is silvery bright, 
Shinest too thy silvery light, 
Night, beautiful night. 

Adrift, Adrift, Adrift, Afloat, 
Baby sails in a silver boat, 
Adrift; Adrift, Adrift, Afloat, 



120 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Slumbering in the peaceful night. 
Slumbering under the stars so bright. 
Soft, airy moonbeams float down 
Alight on baby's snowy white gown. 
Adrift, Adrift, Adrift, Afloat, 
Baby sails in a silver boat. 
Adrift, Adrift, Adrift, Afloat, 
The stars are shining o'er her head, 
While baby's asleep in her downy bed. 

Be careful, be careful, says Kit to Kat, 

The tree is very tall, 

And you are very fat. 

Be careful, be careful, oh, please don't fall. 

It is very, very dark. 

So please do be careful 

It makes me so scareful. 

Dip the little stars, O moon. 
Dip them over the sky so soon, 
Tell them ever to behave. 
Tell them to be true and brave, 
Dip the little stars, moon. 
Dip them over the sky so soon. 

The sonnet given below was written by a high-school 
boy who had done considerable verse composition in 
the grades. It was written to illustrate the peculiar 
structure of the sonnet. 

To MORNTNG 

Rosy Dawn, when your first flushes pink 
The East, then purple grow, then fade to blue, 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 121 

And the great orb of light with golden hue 

Shoots his ten thousand beamlets o'er day's brink, 

And all the stars into oblivion sink ; 

When all the world is bathed in cooling dew, 

And all the earth's creatures rise to life anew, 

Man wakes, and from the cup of time doth drink. 

O, who can tell what he shall drink to-day 

Of sorrows or of joys ere night will come? 

Perhaps he may be turned to lifeless clay. 

And yet, he may reach fame, or foes o'ercome. 

So, not on death he recks nor has a care. 

Two sides of life he knows, but views the fair. 

Special Advantages of Verse Composition in Grades 

Increases the Amount of Writing. By utilizing the 
natural interest we secure opportunity for extensive ex- 
ercise of all the powers that are involved in writing 
verses. The results in amount of written work done by 
the children are often many times that which is required 
in regular courses of study. Longfellow was not an ex- 
ception when he wrote the jingle of " Mr. Finney's Tur- 
nip " during an hour of penance. The sonnet " To 
Morning " given for illustration was thought out by a 
boy who carried newspapers in the early morning. The 
people hurrying to their work, the sky as he watched it 
each morning, and the animals browsing in the fields ap- 
pealed to him, and he philosophized with this sonnet as 
a result. But think of the powerful lever a natural 
interest may be when an upper-grade boy, hurrying 
through his task of delivering papers in the early morn- 



122 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

ing while his teachers are still asleep, finds time to busy 
himself with a school task, and, even more important, one 
which he is not required to perform. Some verse books 
of certain fourth-grade children represent more composi- 
tion in one term than is required of a college class in Eng- 
lish composition for the same period.^ 

Exercise in English. The work should represent the 
best children can do in writing, spelling, rules of punctu- 
ation, capitalization, and correct usage. The interest 
in making verses is thus being used in teaching the regu- 
lar work in English. In this work children often ask the 
teacher to furnish lessons in punctuation in order that 
they may be able to write their rhymes without making 
mistakes. The use of the dictionary is encouraged, and 
crudities in expression are commented upon by the class, 
the child who makes them being required to correct his 
work. 

Concrete illustration of work in verse writing, eighth 
grade. 

Teacher : This is our day for original poetry. What 
have you been writing during the last two weeks? (A 
20-minute period every two weeks was given in this 
case.) 

Several hands go up. Of twenty-seven children four 
have written nothing ; several have written as many as 
six different poems. One girl is writing a ^^ play." 

Teacher : Our time is limited. Select your best verses 
and we will listen to as many as we have time for. 

^ This statement is made from comparisons of actual requirements. 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 123 

A child reads a poem. The class criticizes it. Most 
of their criticisms are complimentary. Some, however, 
point out deficiencies which may be improved. 

This is repeated until the period is over. The teacher 
asks the children to pass in their verses, written in regu- 
lar form, in ink, and upon regulation composition paper. 
Those who do not have verses are required to pass in 
compositions. 

These papers are marked and the criticisms of the 
teacher discussed at the next composition period. 

Composition and The7ne Writing 

Must Be Approached from the Child's Standpoint. 

This often disagreeable part of English instruction is 
being vitalized and made interesting to children by being 
made an expression of their inner lives rather than a task 
laid on from the outside. They are led to want to write, 
this being the primary aim. of English instruction. After 
the child wants to write, the task of getting him to want 
to write clearly and correctly is simplified. On the es- 
tablishment of both of these desires on the part of the 
children, technical features are met and solved in a great 
deal less time than under the old method where the 
teacher spent all his time with* the subject matter he had 
planned to teach, ignoring the necessity of first establish- 
ing a desire for it. 

' Children Are Naturally Interested in Writing. When 
one considers this work from the standpoint of the chil- 
dreU; he finds that it is naturally interesting to them, 



124 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

and that the teacher who reports his class '' dead and dis- 
interested '' is usually the cause of the condition. Chil- 
dren delight to express themselves in writing when this 
work is made a vital part of their lives. In harmonizing 
this interest with the process of improving it the follow- 
ing principles have been found basic : 

1. The subject matter of the class in composition must 
be primarily the subjects about which children write. 
The correction of errors is permissible only when chil- 
dren are constantly aware that they have something to 
express but realize that they have difficulty in expressing 
it in a manner to convey best their thoughts. The task 
is accomplished by holding a large part of the work to 
a discussion purely of subjects in which children are in- 
terested. Fluency and confidence thus precede and 
accompany the development of accuracy. 

A classroom illustration: Seventh-grade teacher : ^^ As 
we came to school this morning we noticed the beautiful 
hoar frost which covered the grass and the trees. I 
have heard you talking about it and am interested in your 
descriptions. I have heard some splendid uses of ad- 
jectives in your descriptions to each other. Wouldn't 
you like to try to describe some of the scenes or objects 
which appeared especially attractive to you? Let us 
talk them over first. Then as we write we will try to 
express ourselves in a manner that will as nearly as pos- 
sible do justice to the picture we are trying to describe. 
Close your eyes and think of the appearance of the 
world covered with its glittering coat. It appealed to 






A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 125 

me in a way that is beyond my power to express, and I 
know that some of you will think of words and sentences 
which will add materially to my own thoughts. Let us 
try to help each other appreciate this treat nature has 
given us." 

The children volunteer descriptions of scenes. When 
they reach the point where they are all interested in 
doing their best to describe the morning, the teacher sug- 
gests that each write his description. 

A further illustration : The teacher and class visit a 
house which is under construction, an orchard, a factory, 
a public building, a river, or some other place of special 
interest. The class recite to the teacher in the same 
manner as if the recitation were going on indoors. They 
try to find words which will do justice to the situation 
as they see it. This is followed by writing what they see. 

Pictures, preferably prints of the great works of art, 
are brought into the schoolroom. The children singly 
and in groups attempt to pose the picture (posing is not 
profitable above the fifth grade). They interpret it as 
best they can. This is followed by an attempt to ex- 
press in writing the feelings and thoughts the picture 
leaves with them. 

2. Children must feel that what they write will be of 
vital interest to the teacher and to their fellows. Every 
opportunity must be used to let the children know^ that 
what they write means something to someone, aside 
from the fact that it affords an exercise in English. The 
teacher should refer in class to what has been said in com- 



126 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

positions, and expect the theme writing to be looked 
upon by the children as a means of communication with 
their teacher and with each other. If a boy writes of a 
fishing trip^ further questioning about his story will form 
a nucleus for closer relations with his life outside of 
school and will indicate that his teacher really notes 
what he has to say in his composition. This, in itself, 
will cause him to be more accurate. He soon learns that 
what he cannot tell his teacher orally may be fully and 
adequately expressed in written composition. 

There is nothing more stimulating to good work in 
composition than the feeling that someone sympathizes 
with and wants to read what the child has to say. He 
learns then to pour out his joys, his sorrows, incidents of 
interest to him, his plans, ambitions, hopes, and fears. 
A teacher cannot hope to succeed in interesting a class 
unless he is interested in each child's individual life. 

Oral English. In oral English the same procedure 
that has been indicated for written composition is neces- 
sary. We must first develop fluency and an interest in 
speaking before we can succeed in establishing accuracy 
in form. The methods that have just been outlined for 
written composition are being used, as well, in oral com- 
position. When the child reaches the place where he is 
interested in his speaking and wants to use correct forms, 
he carries the work out of the schoolroom into his every- 
day life. No amount of technical schoolroom require- 
ments can equal the development of this desire. It is 
impossible to get worth-while results in oral English 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 127 

when only thirty minutes in twenty-four hours are de- 
voted to it. 

A boy in the fourth grade was heard to say^ — '^ I 
don't say 'ain't ' in school because the teacher is so cranky, 
but y' betcher life I make up for it when I get outside." 
And in many schools the sentiment towards correct Eng- 
lish is such that children who use it outside of classroom 
work are not popular with their associates. The atti- 
tude and methods of the teacher are to be blamed for 
this condition of affairs. The home or special commu- 
nity may be a partial cause, but no teacher can account 
for complete failure to arouse a better attitude towards 
correct usage by transferring the blame to the home. 
One of the first questions in surveying a teacher's work 
in English is, '^ Has he been able to establish a desire for 
and general use of good English, or do his personality and 
methods cause the children to dislike and suspect it? " 

Story Telling. One of the best means of creating 
good oral English is story telling. It is being given a 
definite place in all grades, but a marked effort is being 
made to strengthen it in the upper grades because it has 
been found that as children grow older their love for 
good stories, well told, does not diminish, as was once 
thought, but increases. 

The method in general use in the better schools is to 
give a definite place in the week's program to story tell- 
ing. During this period the teacher and the children tell 
stories. They prepare for this hour by practicing their 
stories until they can tell them in good English and in a 



128 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

way to interest the class. This method provides a regu- 
lar period for the refinement of oral English. By pre- 
paring for it and relating it to the deep interest in stories 
which is a part of every child's nature, we provide an or- 
ganized means for improvement. This method is much 
superior to the old way of merely correcting chance er- 
rors heard in the classroom. The teacher still continues 
to correct them wherever and whenever he' finds it help- 
ful to do so, but he does not rely entirely upon this means. 
When a child realizes that his story is appreciated more 
when he does not halt in speech, use the '' run on " con- 
struction, or neglect tense and number, he has reasons of 
his own for learning to speak correctly. Children under 
these conditions often ask the teacher to correct them 
and point out the mistakes they tend to make.^ 

Interest in Literature 

Somewhere between eight and fourteen years there 
may appear a stage in the child's life when he takes an 
interest in reading. He reads for his own pleasure and 
picks his own reading. As a rule he does not care for 
selections that his teachers have chosen for him, although 
a teacher who understands him may be able to direct his 
reading. This reading interest is usually not developed 
in the classroom, yet it is just as important as anything 
that may be accomplished in the classroom so far as 

1 A list of stories for each grade, with bibUographies, is furnished in a 
recent book by Cross & Statler, " Story Telling in the Upper Grades," Row, 
Peterson, and Co., Chicago. 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 129 

English is concerned. But since it does not come under 
the course of study nor turn upon the books that are 
taught in the classroom; it is not always recognized in 
school. It has too often been our idea to develop an 
interest in books by a forced study of them, but such 
forced study usually kills all desire to read, see, or even 
hear about such books for the remainder of life. 

The difference in results from the two methods — the 
first watching for the interest, feeding it, and striving to 
make it grow, the second expecting it to develop as the 
result of compulsory work and assigned tasks — cannot 
better be illustrated than by two examples. The first 
one is quite widely known ; it is the story of how James 
Whitcomb Riley first read Ivanhoe, but it furnishes such 
an illuminating contrast to the second illustration, also 
concerning Ivanhoe, that both are given here ; the two 
different attitudes with all their results can be portrayed 
in no clearer manner. 

Riley said that he did not get along well in school. 
School did not appeal to him ; the subjects were dull and 
uninteresting. 

One Friday when he had broken most of the rules he 
was asked to stay after school. Instead of whipping him, 
the teacher took a copy of Ivanhoe from his desk, when 
everyone was gone, and read two chapters aloud from it. 

Riley said that it made a deep impression upon him, 
and he asked to take the book home. For the next two 
days he read at every spare moment and finished the 
book. He became interested in reading other books and 



130 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

points to this incident as the beginning of everything 
worth while in his career. 

Bright boys and girls seem to be a great deal like 
Thackeray, who said, '' I had a natural taste for every 
book that did not come in the school course." 

Let us compare this incident in the life of Riley with 
the other Ivanhoe case. A high school freshman was 
told that there were two books which he must read in 
his freshman year for his English requirements. One of 
these was Ivanhoe. As soon as he heard of the book, 
his mind began to picture it as a ponderous volume full 
of " good English," which meant to him so much drudg- 
ery. As the year wore along he kept putting off his task, 
but he finally went to the library and found the book. 
Its cover at once verified all his suspicions. There it 
was, the heavy volume. Was there not some short cut ? 
Down to the bookseller's he went, and there he found a 
treatise which, it was claimed, would furnish one with 
all the necessary facts for an examination on Ivanhoe. 
The little book was purchased and read. The exami- 
nation time at last appeared, and, true to the claims of the 
advertiser, the boy was passed with a good grade on his 
knowledge of Ivanhoe. 

" About six years later," he continues, '' I was shut 
up in a small town with nothing to do or to read. As I 
searched the shelves of the village school for something 
that might be of interest, the old loathing was again 
awakened at finding a copy of Ivanhoe. With many 
misgivings I again started to read the book which had 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 131 

been fought off so strenuously in high school. But as 
the pages went by, I found that I could not leave it. 

" Since that time I have hunted up other books which 
had gone the way of the ' concise treatise/ David Copper- 
field, Silas Marner, and other treasures. In most cases 
I have had about the same awakening as occurred with 
Ivanhoe." 

The amount and the type of reading a child is doing 
outside the requirements of the school is a good test of 
the efficiency of instruction in literature. When chil- 
dren develop a dislike for high class literature, the method 
, of teaching it should be revised. 

Importance of Forming a Habit of Independent Reading 

Reading is a means of development which is open to 
everyone. An interest in reading has often made the 
difference between a common and a great man. Those 
who have had no other opportunities have educated 
themselves entirely through reading, and, on the other 
hand, those who have had the best of schooling find it 
hard to go far if they have not formed a taste for im- 
proving literature. 

President Eliot of Harvard has said of the reading in- 
terest : " From the total training during childhood there 
should result in the child a taste for interesting and im- 
proving reading which should direct and inspire his sub- 
sequent intellectual life. That schooling which results 
in this taste for good reading, however unsystematic or 
eccentric this schooling may have been; has achieved a 



182 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

main end of elementary education ; and that schooling 
which docs not result in implanting this permanent taste 
has failed. Guided and animated by this impulse to ac- 
quire knowledge and exercise his imagination through 
reading, the individual will continue to educate himself 
all through life. Without that deep-rooted impression 
he will soon cease to draw on the accumulated wisdom of 
the past and the new resources of the present, and as he 
grows older he will live in a mental atmosphere which is 
always growing thinner and emptier. 

'' Do we not all know many people who seem to live 
in a mental vacuum, — to whom, indeed, we have great 
difficulty in attributing immortality because they ap- 
parently have so little life except that of the body ? Fif- 
teen minutes a day of good reading would have given 
any one of this multitude a really human life. The up- 
lifting of the democratic masses depends upon this im- 
planting at school of a taste for good reading." 

Almost every great man is a great reader. Very few 
can be found who do not point to their reading as an 
important factor in their development. Let us consider 
the value of a reading interest in the life of Thackeray. 
What is true of him is representative of what will be 
found in the biographies of most exceptional persons. 

In his boyhood he went to three different schools, and did 
extrern(;ly iK)or work in all of them. All his life he was deeply 
disgusted with the English schoolmaster. He says, ''I always 
had my doubts about the classics. When I saw a brute of 
a schoolmaster whose mind was as coarse as any ploughboy's 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 133 

in Christendom, whose manners were the most insufferable 
of all heaven's creatures, whose lips, when they were not 
mumbling Greek and Latin, were yelling out the most brutal 
abuse of poor, cowering little gentlemen — . A man will 
slap you on the back, and call you names because you won't 
learn, but I never could take the proffered deUcacy. The 
fingers that offered it were too dirty." 

This picture is representative of his boyish experiences with 
schoolmasters. T. F. Boyes, one of his companions, says of 
him. ''No one in those early days could have believed that 
there was very much work in him, or that he would ever rise 
to the top of any tree by climbing." 

Thackeray's one passion seemed to be vested in reading 
novels. He says, ''I had a natural taste for every book that 
did not fall into the school course." Even late in life he 
cherished the idea of retiring to the country and feasting 
on books. 

He says the following of his first novel, ''As some bells 
are ringing hard by, making a great holiday, clanging in the 
summer afternoon, I am reminded, somehow, of a July day 
years and years ago in a garden, and there was a great 
clanging of bells. I remember a little boy lying in that 
garden reading his first novel. It was called The Scottish 
Chiefs." 

Reading has played a large r61e in the lives of successful 
men in all fields. It served as a foundation to the legal 
practice and public career of Lincoln. Edison says that 
he early learned to ^^ tear the heart out of a book.^' A 
successful scientist recently said, ^^ I believe that my 
spontaneous reading has educated me a thousand times 
as much as did my schooling. '^ 



134 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The Development of the Reading Interest 

Good Taste a Matter of Growth. A number of men 
who have acquired the reading habit say, when ques- 
tioned, that they went through different stages of de- 
velopment in their choice of books. Some of them read 
hundreds of the five-cent paper-back, blood and thunder 
stories, such as Buffalo Bill, Tip Top Weeklies, Jesse 
James, Diamond Dick, and Nick Carter. They passed 
through this kind of reading like a traveler journeying 
through a country never to return again. Gradually 
they grew out of it, and ever afterwards such stories 
merely aroused their disgust. Girls go through the 
Augusta Jane Evans and Mary J. Holmes stage in some- 
what the same manner. 

Teachers and parents should learn that such reading 
does not always result in evil. A forced check to it often 
results in secrecy. One man says that he had hundreds 
of Jesse James stories hidden in the barn loft. Many 
gangs of boys circulated among their members all of these 
books they could get hold of. 

A man whose reading taste is quite cultivated tells of 
its development in the following words : 

" I graduated from five-cent Nick Carters to ten-cent 
novels ; then I went to Sherlock Holmes, and next to the 
Edgar Allan Poe type of reading. This was at the age 
of ten or twelve (somewhat younger than ordinary). 
Soon my reading became a source of great delight, and 
at about thirteen I went into pseudo-psychological, 
scientific, and mystic works. '^ 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 135 

Later he read all the works of Herbert Spencer. Then 
he read Darwin, Pearson, and Hall. Finally he took up 
the study of eugenics and is now holding a responsible 
position as lecturer on this subject. His reading pre- 
pared him to gain a graduate degree at one of the greatest 
American universities, yet his schooling was not enough 
to give him the ordinary high school diploma. 

Age of Beginning. The reading interest has usually 
started between the ages of nine and twelve. And 
although it may start earlier or later than this period, 
in those with whom it stays eleven is the age at which it 
most often begins. Statements of persons who have 
acquired the taste for good literature are given below : 

1. ^^ From about the age of ten I have been interested 
in books and reading. They have always held a kind of 
mystic charm for me. Whenever as a boy I saw a large 
case of books, I would be overcome by a feeling of 
reverence and awe. This reading interest was started 
at home. My father and mother used to read to 
each other and talk about the books they had read. 
Their reading fascinated me, and I began to read for 
myself." 

2. ^^ My interest in books started when I was about 
eleven years old. Previously I had followed mechanical 
pursuits, but several causes, among them a teacher who 
had become a companion to me, led me to develop an 
interest in reading. At that time I traded a lathe — 
I had saved for years to get the money to buy it — for 
a set of encyclopedias," 



i 



136 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

3. '^ At the time my brothers were hunting and fish- 
ing I turned to books. My mother noted this and sup- 
phed me with all the books she could afford. I never 
cared for outdoor sports much after that. At present 
my chief delight is in reading." 

Developing Interest in Literature at School 

Morning Exercises. At morning exercises it is a good 
custom to read selections from different authors, — as 
Kipling, Burns, Tennyson, and others. When the chiU 
dren are interested, the teacher may announce that the 
book from which he has read will be on his desk, and 
that those who wish may borrow it. If the teacher has 
chosen wisely, the book is likely to be read by a large 
portion of the class. 

Regular School Period. One of the best methods of 
stimulating this interest is to give a school period a week 
to it. The regular English lesson for that day is a dis- 
cussion of the books that have been read during the 
week. The results are apt to justify all the school time 
spent in this manner. It makes a most interesting period 
to the children, and the descriptions of books lead others 
to re^d them. 

There is a great difference between individuals. These 
differences between individuals are to be enlarged upon 
rather than blotted out. We could not overcome them if 
we wished, and we should not wish to. Undoubtedly, 
the person who is interested gets more than the one who 
isn't; but that is Hfe. We have ignored individual in- 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 137 

terests too long in our schools in attempts to bring the 
backward child up to a plane that he himself cares nothing 
about coming up to ; and in doing it we have ruined in- 
terests which might have been developed far beyond any 
school requirements. 

Someone has taken the trouble to investigate how long 
it would take an ordinary high school boy to read all the 
books covered in the regular literature of the first eight 
grades. The time it took him was pitifully short. Be- 
low is given an illustration of what an eighth-grade boy 
did in one half-year under the plan of one period a week 
spent on what the children were reading outside of class 
with free discussion among the children. The books were 
read by a boy who was about average in a class of twenty. 

Books and magazine articles read by an eighth-grade 
boy, September 1 to January 30 : 

BOOKS MAGAZINES 

By WilUam A. : 

1. A West Point Cadet, 1. Seven Numbers of 

Capt. Malone. American Boy 

2. A West Point Lieutenant, 

Capt. Malone. 

3. A Texas Blue Bonnet, 

EmiUa Elhott. 

4. Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party, 

Emilia Elliott. 

5. Two Ways of Becoming a Hunter, 

Harry Castleman. 

6. The Missing Pocket Book, 

Harry Castleman. 



138 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 
BOOKS 

7. The Haunted Mine, 

Harry Castleman. 

8. Elam Storm, 

Harry Castleman. 

9. Frontier Boys in the Grand 

Canyon, 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

10. Frontier Boys in Colorado, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

11. Winning His Y, 

Barbour. 

12. Whispering Smith, 

Spearman. 

13. Captain Chub, 

Barbour. 

14. Crimson Sweater, 

Barbour. 

15. Williams at West Point, 

Hugh Johnson. 

16. Last of the Mohicans, 

James Fenimore Cooper. 

The teacher should keep a record of the books that are 
preferred by the children. Then from time to time he 
can make lists and post them for those who wish to read 
interesting books. The lists posted should contain only 
good literature. It will be noted that some of the books 
reported in the list given are not what may be called '^ A " 
class. The teacher must be careful not to attempt to 
force taste, and although he should not refer them to 
lower class literature, he need not rail against it. The 



A SUBJECT TAUGHT THROUGH INTERESTS 139 



taste for good literature is developed by surrounding 
children with high-class books suited to their interests. 
When they get to where they choose Kipling, Dickens, 
Alcott, and like authors of their own accord, the end is 
achieved. 

A list of authors whose books are both interesting to 
children and excellent literature is furnished here for those 
who find difficulty in selecting books to meet the two re- 
quirements. The number of children's books written by 
an author is placed after his name, but the numbers do 
not include all the books by an author. 



Adams, Joseph, 2 
Alcott, Louisa May, 16 
Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 21 
Andersen, Hans Christian, 5 
Andrews, Jane, 5 
Baldwin, James, 6 
Barnes, James 
Beard, Daniel Carter, 4 
Beard, Lina, 2 
Blaisdell, A. F., 4 
Blaisdell, M. F., 2 
Blackmore, Richard D. 
Blanchard, Amy 
Boyesen, Hjalmar, 2 
Brooks, Elbridge Streeter, 5 
Bunyan, John 
Burroughs, John, 3 
Butterworth, Hezekiah, 2 
Cervantes, Miguel de 
Chapin, Anna Alice, 3 



Chubb, Percival, 2 
Clemens, Samuel L.+ 

(Mark Twain) 
Coffin, C. C, 5 
Cooper, James Fenimore, 2 
Cross, Mary A. E. 

(George Eliot) 
Custer, Elizabeth B. 
Dana, Richard Henry 
De Foe, Daniel 
Dickens, Charles + 
Dodge, May, 3 
Dodgson, Charles L. 
Dopp, Katherine E.-h 
Du Chaillu, Paul 
Eggleston, Edward, 3 
Ewing, Julia, 5 
Field, Eugene, 2 
Foote, Anna, 2 
Gordon, Chas. W. 



140 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



Grimm, J. L. and W. C, 3 
Hale, Lucretia P., 2 
Hale, Edward Everett, 8 
Harris, Joel C, 5 
Howells, William Dean, 3 
Hughes, Thomas 
Jewett, Sarah, 3 
Johnston, Annie F. 
Kaler, James Otis, 2 
Kingsley, Charles, 2 
Kipling, Rudyard, 6 
Knox, Thomas Wallace 
Lagerlof, Selma 
Lang, Andrew (Editor), 3 
Long, William J., 5 
Mabie, Hamilton W., 5 
McDonald, Etta, 8 
MacDonald, George, 3 
Malory, Sir Thomas, 2 
Miller, Joaquin 
Mitchell, S. Weir 
Moores, Charles W., 2 
Morley, Margaret W., 6 
Nicolay, Helen 
Page, Thomas Nelson, 3 
Parkman, Francis, 2 
Porter, Jane 
Pyle, Howard, 6 
Ramee, Louise de la 
Richards, Laura E., 4 



Riley, James Whitcomb + 
Roberts, Charles G. D., 2 
Roosevelt, Theodore + 
Saunders, Marshall 
Scott, Sir Walter + 
Scudder, Horace, 4 
Seawell, Molly E., 4 
Seton, Ernest Thompson, 7 
Spyri, Johanna, 3 
Stevenson, Robert L.+ 
Stockton, Francis R., 4 
Stoddard, Wilham Q., 2 
Stowe, Harriet B. 
Stuart, Ruth McEnery, 2 
Swift, Jonathan 
Tappan, Eva March + 
Taylor, Bayard 
Tomlinson, Everett 
Verne, Jules 

Warner, Charles Dudley, 2 
Weed, Clarence M., 4 
Whitney, Adeline, 3 
Wiggin, Kate Douglas, 5 
Wiggin, Kate Douglas and 

Archibald N., 5 
Wilkins, Mary Eleanor, 3 
Wright, Henrietta C, 2 
Wright, Mabel O. 
Wyss, Johann 
Yonge, Charlotte Mary, 3 



CHAPTER VII 

UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 

Illustrations of Interests which May Be Used as Incentives 

The Social Interests. The desire to do better work 
when others are present^ the mterest in cooperation, com- 
petition, etc., furnish incentives for good work in school. 
These have been given detailed consideration in the 
last three chapters of this book. 

Interest in the Opposite Sex. This plays a part in 
every phase of life and becomes of greater importance as 
the children increase in age. The teacher cannot afford 
to ignore it. The old method of prohibition of every in- 
terest in each other by boys and girls did not succeed. 
Whether this interest will become an uplifting influence 
in the life of a child or a degrading one will depend upon 
how it is dealt with. Many boys as well as girls are 
stimulated to successful effort by it. 

Interest in Investigation. This has been made a large 

factor in instruction by all successful teachers. Froebel 

in " The Boyhood of Man " tells us that it is a mistake 

not to select our subject matter with this interest in view, 

for, he says, when it is neglected, a valuable feature of 

the child's nature is likely to suffer for want of function. 

He mentions the study of botany as an example. When 

141 



142 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

the child is not encouraged to investigate flowers until 
he gets into high school, the time is likely to have passed 
when he can become interested in this study. We must 
seize upon this interest whenever it appears and give 
due recognition for independent investigation in any 
subject at any time. 

The Dramatic Interest 

The dramatic interest has been chosen for detailed 
treatment in this chapter because it is receiving a great 
deal of attention in modern practice. It has been used 
with the greatest success in such schools as the Francis 
Parker School and the Speyer School. 

The tendency to express our thoughts and feelings not 
only in language but through gesture and bodily atti- 
tude is common to the race. Hall and some of his stu- 
dents have studied the dramatic instinct and have fairly 
well established its racial character.^ It finds expression 
all through life and is not confined to any one period. 

Use and Misuse 

Dramatization furnishes a splendid medium for the in- 
teresting study of school tasks. Its benefits will depend 
upon how wisely it is used. The dramatic instinct is 
not used as much as it should be in the average school, 
but in some schools it is much overdone and not organized 
to advantage. 

The advantages of a wise use of this interest are : 

^ Curtis. The Dramatic Instinct. Houghton Mifflin Co. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 143 

1. The child's natural love for full bodily expression is 
utilized in making school life and unpleasant duties less 
irksome. 

2. The more bodily expression we have in school, the 
less children will suffer through enforced confinement. 
The dramatic is a step toward a less sedentary program. 
The large values of this new tendency are given in a 
special chapter in this book. 

3. The natural emotional life of children is given op- 
portunity for proper expression. The feelings are being 
given more attention in education than heretofore, and, 
as the basic element of mental life, they deserve it. There 
is purification in proper emotional expression, and when 
children have opportunity for such, they are likely to 
be more wholesome in their reaction towards the me- 
chanical side of school work and in their lives outside 
of school. 

4. Facts are better remembered when experienced in 
this manner. The lesson is expressed more fully than 
reading and ordinary recitation could bring about ; the 
mind is ready and eager for the work ; and more repeti- 
tion under concentrated attention may be demanded. 
These are special features of economic learning as estab- 
lished by psychological experiments, — full expression by 
the learner, a slight emotional state to give the attention 
an edge, and constant repetition. 

5. A motive for special preparation is furnished. The 
child is to give his interpretation of a chosen piece of 
history, civics, or literature to his fellows. This brings 



144 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

up a real life situation. Beyond the result in the teacher's 
grade book is the reception of his work by his fellows. 
This feature alone is full justification for large use of the 
dramatic. The more life motives and actual life experi- 
ences we bring into school the better will be the results 
of education. 

Some disadvantages due to misuse are : 

1. Overstimulation and lack of effort. Children 
often become overstimulated and take merely a superficial 
attitude toward their work. The teacher may do too 
much of the work for them and not demand study and 
thoughtful reactions. Classes in serious work may thus 
drift into a continuous discussion of how to write plays, 
and too much time will be spent in dramatizing and act- 
ing parts of the work to be covered while other more 
important parts are neglected. 

2. Too much dramatization. Too much dramatiza- 
tion, even though carefully selected and well organized, 
is possible. This is only one of a large number of life 
interests and it can be overworked. 

Dramatizing History 

In the lower grades most of the history work is taught 
through action. Thus, little need be said about such 
work before the fourth grade. In the study of primitive 
life the children build huts or wigwams, make pottery, 
weave baskets, make bows and arrows, and act as wild 
men act while they are studying these men. In some 
places the children go so far as to form communities 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 145 

out of doors and carry on the different occupations of 
the community in their childish dramatic interpretation. 

But as we go upward through the grades there is more 
and more " seat work." Teachers seem to think that 
the children have passed the time when they desire to 
express in action what they learn, and that the time has 
now come to learn merely to recite. 

A child learns of the adventures of John Smith of 
Virginia from his book, tells it to his teacher, and then 
is supposed to know it. He is given no chance to put 
himself into the life of the time through making a play 
of the exploits of Smith, and then realizing his funda- 
mental instinctive nature by acting it. His final meet- 
ing with Smith is probably in the examination, where 
his old friend is brought forth to remind him of his in- 
ability to memorize the contents of a textbook. As the 
classes are usually conducted, only the most striking 
events in Smith's career, if we continue with Smith as a 
type, are learned ; nor can we expect anything more to 
be learned. 

The many little incidents and settings that go along 
with these more striking things and make up the real 
history of the people under consideration, their customs, 
their worries, and their methods of seeking pleasure are 
rarely felt by children who study history through recita- 
tions and examinations only. A dramatization of one of 
the many features in the Hfe of Smith given at the close 
of the study of this section of American history reveals 
many facts which otherwise would not have been noted, 



146 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

and which along with many of the things already 
learned are clinched in the minds of the children. At 
the close of the work interest culminates in the play, 
which may be given to the entire school. The usual 
dull review which is to be followed by a test cannot be 
compared with the dramatic review. 

For an example of this sort of work^ a play that was 
composed and written by sixth-grade children under the 
guidance and help of a teacher is given on page 148, to 
indicate what may be expected of an average group in 
this grade. It is by no means the best sixth-grade 
product that could be shown. It is regarded as valuable 
because it is average. It is presented to emphasize the 
point that most teachers can do dramatic work with 
their children. The more work of this kind that is done, 
the easier it will become. 

Method of Constructing. The method of constructing 
a play will depend upon the previous training and ex- 
perience of the children. If they have not had much 
experience in dramatizing, the teacher may lead them by 
suggesting a plot and characters. The pupils then give 
their ideas of what should be included, but the teacher is 
the judge of what shall eventually go into the play. 
Each member of the class keeps a record of the play as 
it progresses, and each one is supposed to study his his- 
tory in order to be able to throw light upon any char- 
acter or any speech he is to make. Such considerations 
as whether or not a character would make the speeches 
that are proposed, reckoning from his personal char- 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 147 

acter, his interests, his place in history, and the customs 
of his times, may furnish material for profitable discus- 
sions. Real thought is called for by this kind of history 
work, and careful study usually accompanies the con- 
struction of a play if the teacher work^ to stimulate it. 

The teacher must not be overcritical. A sensitive child 
is likely to withdraw from participation in the discussion 
if his notions are not given due respect. Sometimes it 
is even better to use a speech or direction of an inferior 
type in order to make the play representative of the 
entire class. Anyone knows that the teacher should be 
able to write a better play than the class could work out. 
But a finished play is the last thing that is to be sought in 
this kind of work. Children care for macrocosms, not 
microcosms, and everyone who views children's produc- 
tions should understand this. As children continue with 
such work they show wonderful improvement. 

If the class is fairly good in English composition and 
has had some dramatic work, the teacher may allow each 
child to write a portion of the play each day for his his- 
tory and English work. This can be done more quickly 
and with better results, if the class as a whole decides 
upon characters that are to be represented, and also if 
the general structure of the play is first settled upon. 
Then the teacher can go over them, select the best plays, 
and read them to the class. Something from the work of 
each child should, if at all possible, be chosen. The 
class may then decide upon some of the special speeches 
and settings. After the teacher and the class have 



148 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

chosen the characters and those who are to play the parts, 
each character may be allowed to work over his part, 
and if there is anything that he thinks he could better 
from the standpoint of the correct interpretation of the 
character he is to play, he should be allowed to state his 
position, and if it is good, he should be allowed to change 
the speeches or settings that are not suitable. Children 
who have had much practice are able to work out the parts 
of characters, and these can then be worked together by 
the class. 

CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 

This play was written and given by the children of the 
sixth grade under the direction of the practice teacher, Miss 
Anna B. Davis, ^ Training School, State Teachers College of 
Colorado. 

Scene 1. 

Setting : Landing scene in Virginia. 

Characters : Smith, Gosnold, two guides, several men, cap- 
tain of the ship, Father Newport, few Indians. 

Scenery : Rocks, chest, charter, chains, flag of England, cos- 
tumes. 

(Captain and all his men enter. Smith follows led by two 

guides. 
Indians peek behind trees). 

Smith — Captain, now that we are off the ships, may I be 
released ? 

Captain (gruffljO Release Smith. Now bring forth the chest, 
Gosnold, with the charter. 

(Chest is brought, opened by captain, and he hands the charter 

to father Newport.) 

1 Under the training teacher, Miss Amy Foote, an American History 
play is given each year. The punctuation, capitahzation, and spelHng of 
these illustrations are those of the children. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 149 

Captain — We will let Father Newport read the charter. 

Father Newport reads — I, the sovereign power of England, 
grant to you, my people, all the privileges of free persons, 
native of England, in such a manner as if you were born 
and personally resident in said realm of England, and 
you shall have a government according to such laws as 
shall be by myself or you established ; so that the said 
laws conform or agree as nearly as possible with those 
of England, and do not oppose the Christian faith, or 
in any way withdraw the people in those lands from our 
allegiance. For carrying out these laws for the sovereign 
power of England, I do appoint from among you colonists 
the following : Gosnold as governor, Winfield, Ratcliff, 
and Smith as subject to his rule. These above mentioned 
men shall govern the colony of Virginia in accordance 
with the laws above stated. 

Signed : King James I, of England. 

(All salute Gosnold as governor) . 

Captain — This would be a lovely place for a settlement. 

Gosnold — What are those funny brown people behind the 
trees looking for ? 

(Indians always peeping from behind trees). 

Ratcliff — Trees are plentiful for building, and, indeed, there 
is a fine stream. This is an ideal place for a settlement. 
What say you governor? 

Captain — I say let us have Gosnold plant the flag. 

(Gosnold takes the flag to center of stage ; all surround him 

and kneel to the flag). 

Gosnold — I, governor of Virginia, take possession of this 
land for our king, James of England. The settlement 
shall be called Jamestown in honor of that great sovereign. 

Father Newport — Aye, Aye. 

(Crosses himself and all bow heads). 
Curtain. 

Scene 2. 

Setting : Powhatan's settlement. 

Characters : Pocahontas, Indian maidens, Powhatan, Indian 
braves, Smith. 



150 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Scenery : Trees, wigwam, corn, clubs, stones, log, skins, blan- 
kets, costumes. ! 
(Powhatan is seated on a log with Indian braves gathered 
around him. Pocahontas is seated at the side of the 
stage with Indian maidens around her. As the curtain 
goes up, loud yelling is heard off the stage, and all turn 
in that direction. Smith is brought in by the Indians. 
He is bound in ropes.) 

First Indian — ■ (To Powhatan) Captured heap big pale 
face medicine man. Know too much. 

Second Indian — Talk to stars, (points) Much wise pale face. 

First Indian — Capture one. Kill two. 

Second Indian — What do with him ? 

Indian maidens show much curiosity. 

Powhatan (grunts) — Hold council to see if pale face live or 
die. (Powhatan and his men go to one side to hold 
council). (Smith is noticing Pocahontas who now comes 
up to him). 

Smith — (Giving Pocahontas a mirror) Here is something 
for you my pretty maiden. 
Pocahontas doesn't seem to know how to handle it. Smith 
shows her how to look into it. Then she shows it to the 
other Indian girls. 

Pocahontas — Any more for Pocahontas ? 

Smith — Yes, here are some beads for you. 

(These she also gives to other Indian Maidens.) 

Pocahontas — (Returning to Smith) Tell Pocahontas where 
pale face came from. 

Smith — (Sitting beside Pocahontas) I came from a land 
far across the great sea. It is called England. One 
time when I was a little boy, I wanted to go and fight 
for my country. I had to fight a tribe called the Turks. 
These people were mean and cruel and our fight was 
hard. While there, I was chosen by our side to fight 
one of these Turks by myself. I killed him and likewise 
two others, who attempted the same thing. At last we 
were taken as prisoners and sold into slavery. My master 
was mean and cruel, but I finally escaped and returned 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 151 

home. When I reached England, a crowd of men were 
going to come to this country. We landed near here 
and made a settlement we called Jamestown in honor of 
our — 
(Powhatan and braves come over hurriedly). 

Powhatan — Pale face knows too much. Heap bad. Must 

die. I hold war dance. 
(All Indians except Pocahontas and Powhatan dance around 

Smith). 

Pocahontas — (Kneeling before her father) Save pale face 
for Pocahontas. 

Powhatan — No, Away, bring clubs and stone. Pale face 

must die. 
(Stone and clubs are brought and Smith's head is placed on 

stone) . 

Pocahontas — (quickly kneeling before Powhatan) No kill 
good pale face. Pocahontas no want you to. 

Powhatan — Why ? 

Pocahontas — He gave Pocahontas this, (shows mirror) 
and this (shows beads). 

Powhatan — No, Pale face must die. Away, Pocahontas. 
Strike. 

Pocahontas — (Bending over Smith and sheltering him from 
the upraised clubs) No kill him. Pocahontas like him. 
Heap good Pale face. 

Powhatan — Away braves. (Leads Pocahontas forward.) Po- 
cahontas, you are my brave little daughter. 

Smith — (Who has been unbound) (Placing his hand on 
Pocahontas' head) God bless you child ; God save you for 
this brave act. You are a heroine. 
Curtain. 

Scene 3 

Setting : Jamestown, Virginia. 

Characters : Maidens, Pocahontas, Smith, Settlers, Rolfe, 
Powhatan, Indian braves, Ratcliff, Winfield. 

Scenery : Chairs, benches, flags, inside of a house. 



152 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Smith — It is about time, Father Newport, that the maidens 
were arriving from England. 

Ratdiff — Ah, you weary nie talking about those maidens 
from England. They are always on your mind. 

Winfield — Yes, I do say. Let's go fishing, Smith. I wonder 

where Rolfe is. 
Ratcliff — I wouldn't wonder if he hadn't gone fishing himself. 

(Rolfe enters by back door). 

Winfield — Hello, Rolfe, we were just speaking of you. Where 

have you been? 
Rolfe — I have been to the ships. Here are some letters 

from England. 

Ratcliff — Have the ships arrived ? 

Rolfe — Yes, just this moment. 

Smith — I told you so, and here come Father Newport and 
the Maidens now. Welcome to you all. 
(Father Newport and maidens enter. Among the latter 
are Miss Betsy, Miss Katheryn, Miss Molly.) 

Father Newport — Captain Smith, this is Miss Betsy. (Betsy 
courtesies.) Captain Smith this is Miss Katheryn. Cap- 
tain Smith this is Miss Molly. Sir John Rolfe this is 
Miss Betsy, Miss Molly, and Miss Katherj^n. (All 
courtesy) . 

Betsy — We had a lovely trip but it seemed so long before 
we reached our settlernent. 

Pocahontas — (Comes in hurriedly and runs up to Smith) 
Ah, Pale Face Smith, the Indians are coming, and I fear 
they are going to kill us. Kill me too? Hide Poca- 
hontas. 

Rolfe — May I hide Pocahontas ? 

Smith — Yes, but be careful. 

Katheryn — Oh, here come some horrid Indians. 
(Men get their guns.) 

Smith — No, Men, put down your guns. We will greet them 
as friends. 
(Powhatan and braves enter.) 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 153 

Smith — Why, Friend Powhatan, what is the meaning of this? 

Are we not friends ? 
Powhatan — Heap big Pale face, afraid you take lands from 

me. 
Smith — No, indeed. We have a crown for you from King 

James of England. Bring the crown men. 
Powhatan — Crown for me ? 

Smith — Yes, and here it is. Kneel now Powhatan. 
Powhatan — I no like to kneel. 

(Men push Powhatan down on his knees). 

Smith — (Placing crown upon his head) Just a fit? Now 

you are king of Virginia. 
Powhatan — (Rising) Heaps good pale face men. 

Smith — (Grasping Powhatan's hand) Let us be friends 
from now on in this new world. 

Curtain. 
The End. 

A history play should be as true to life as it is possible 
to make it, and the children should get their material 
from real history whenever it is available. The children 
could not get a copy of the charter for this play, although 
they made a good search. They went over a number of 
books and undoubtedly learned much from such work. 
They did find copies of other charters, and the clauses 
in their play charter were made with the knowledge of 
how other charters read. In Smith's story of his former 
life the experiences that he related to Pocahontas were 
based upon the " Life of John Smith,'' but his giving of 
presents and the entire conversation were imagined by the 
children. They felt as if Smith had given her some- 
thing in order to win her sympathies. Such reasoning 
will compare well with discussions in college classes as 



154 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to what certain characters in fiction said and did when 
the author does not state. Take, for example^ the dis- 
cussion of whether Portia in the ^^ Merchant of Venice " 
meant to give Bassanio a hint of the right casket in the 
little song that the players gave while he was choosing. 
If such discussions are valuable in the study of fiction by 
advanced classes, they are decidedly so in the study of 
history by sixth-grade pupils. 

In presenting their play, the individuality of the 
children was allowed full realization. In criticizing, no 
definite directions about how to play a part were given 
by the teacher, but the child was told to think just how 
the character he was interpreting would act on the 
occasion in question. The scenery, costumes, and stage 
management were all taken care of by the children, a 
stage manager having been selected from among them. 
The teacher often gave him suggestions, but stayed in 
the background as much as possible. All this will de- 
pend upon the versatility of the pupils and their experi- 
ence. All announcements to the audience should be 
made by a stage manager. The teacher should work 
towards entire management by the class, but this can- 
not be expected too soon. 

English 

The value of all this work to the English of the stu- 
dent cannot be estimated. Every pupil keeps a record 
of the play as it progresses each day. His copy should 
be in good penmanship, and the punctuation should be an 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 155 

example of his best. The large amount of punctuation in 
writing a play makes a very valuable exercise in this 
field, and its value is due largely to the fact that it is not 
^^ punctuation for punctuation's sake " or '^ just punc- 
tuation study/' but the child has his very real life reason 
for the use of punctuation in his play. He has a motive 
for it. The same is true for spelling and capitalization. 

The work of making up the speeches of the different 
characters has a value added to that of ordinary composi- 
tion, for here the study of, and an insight into, human 
character is necessary in order to conceive what a speech 
is to be. The children soon learn that each play has its 
funny person, its villain, its hero, and its heroine. They 
also take greater interest in and have greater insight into 
the significance of plays that are studied in literature 
after having constructed a few themselves. 

Children can usually be prevailed upon to make the 
English in their plays an example of their best, but the 
teacher must be careful in this and stop before the interest 
has been killed on account of her too critical attitude 
towards structure. Improvement will be more likely to 
result as evolution rather than revolution. After long 
practice, if continued attention is given to this side of 
the work, the child shows great improvement. It is 
well to allow him the opportunity to construct beyond 
his ability to reach perfection. 

Another great advantage that arises from the con- 
struction of their own plays is the increased confidence 
that it gives children. When a child reahzes that he 



156 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

can make a play that is appreciated by an audience 
and that such work is not the product of geniuses or 
wizards; his enthusiasm to do original work is hkely 
to increase. Children write long plays outside of regular 
class work and bring them to class to consult with their 
teachers. Recently in our school a group of children 
found their own subject and asked the teacher to help 
them with it outside of the regular school sessions, volun- 
teering to spend an hour a day uiitil they were ready to 
play it. This illustrates the highest aim of education, as 
has been mentioned before. Whenever a child shows a 
desire to do such work, the teacher should note it and 
give him due recognition. A girl in the eighth grade 
read at home a large number of the plays of Shake- 
speare after being started in this manner. 

A dramatization of Rip Van Winkle is given as repre- 
sentative of such work in English. The children began 
this story with the knowledge that they could dramatize 
it if they desired to. As they neared the end of the study 
each one wrote out an entire dramatization of the story. 
The eighteen little plays from which this one was made 
are now on file. The best ones were selected and some 
of them were read to the class. The final product repre- 
sents a combination of the work of every student in the 
class. When such a story is dramatized and played, it 
goes into the hearts of the children and will never be en- 
tirely forgotten. The child's consciousness that he is 
actually representing a character causes him to feel the 
position of that character more strongly than any amount 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 157 

of reading would. The piece becomes a part of him and 
he a part of it. 

DRAMATIZATION OF RIP VAN WINKLE 
This was done by an eighth grade. 

Act 1, Scene 1. 

Scenery. The home of Rip Van Winkle, a very neat place, 
with a table in the middle of the room and chairs around. 
A fire place at one side. As the curtain goes up, we see 
Rip talking to his dog. 

Rip. — Poor Wolf, we have a hard time of it. 
(Enter Dame Van Winkle). 

Dame — (Sweeping floor) Idle again you lazy man. Why 
are you not out in the garden working? You sit around 
from morning till night and what you do amounts to 
absolutely nothing. Fd be ashamed of myself if I were 
as lazy as you. 
(She chases Rip out, threatening him with the broom). 

Rip — (as he goes out) Guess I'll take a stroU down to the 

tavern where I can have a jolly time with friends. 

(Dame Van Winkle goes to empty cupboard and sighs 

as she goes out) 

(Enter children, who chase around and knock down 

chairs, and Dame Van Winkle comes in and shakes the 

boy) 
Dame — Now young man you pick up that chair. 
Boy — Oh, mother's so cross. She is scolding all the time. 
qIyI — Yes, and poor Papa, he never does have a good time 

at home. 

(Enter Dame Van Winkle going to cupboard) 

Boy — Say, Ma, may I have a piece of bread ? 

Dame — No, there isn't any, and your father is too lazy to 

go out and work for any. Now you children get out of 

here and get to work in the garden. 

Curtain. 



i 



158 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Act 1. Scene 2. 

Scenery. Before the King George Inn, with a tree to one 
side. At the door of the inn stands the inn keeper. Under 
the tree are chairs upon which are seated Dutch farmers 
talking about their crops. 

Inn Keeper — (FilUng cups with Ale) Well, I see there was 

quite a frost last night. You fellows got your crops 

all in? 
Brom Dutcher — Yah, I tell you vot, I got mine all right. 

But Rip, I tell you vot, the frost his all got. 
Nicholas Veder — Yes, I know Rip didn't get his in because 

he has been helping me. 

Brom Dutcher — Veil, Veil, here he comes now. 

(Rip enters looking downcast but when he sees his friends, 

brightens) 
Van Bummel — Come on, come on. Rip, and join us. 
Rip — (Drinking Ale) Well, Brom Dutcher, how goes the 

work in the field? Need any help? 
Everyone — What about your own crops, Rip ? (Laughter) 
Rip — (leaning back in his chair) Well, as I was saying — 

Enter Dame Van Winkle. 

Dame — Here you are, lazy man, you loaf here at the tavern 
and never turn your hand to do a thing useful. Here it 
frosted last night and the pumpkins are all spoiled. Our 
fence is down, and the cow has gone. Oh, if I had my 
broom. 
(Waves her hands and chases Rip out) 

Dame — (turning to inn keeper) Well, what are you smiling 
about. You are the very cause of Rip's laziness. Oh, 
if I only had my faithful broom. 

(Exit Dame Van Winkle.) 
(As Curtain goes down, the men shake their heads and 
say, "Poor Rip") 

Scene 3, Act 1. 

Scenery. Rip going up the mountain with his dog and gun. 
Rip — Well, it is getting pretty late. I must be going home. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 159 

Voice — (In hollow drawnout tone) R-i-p V-a-n. W-i-n-k-1-e, 
R-i-p V-a-n W-i-n-k-1-e, 
(Rip looks around but sees nothing) 

Voice — R-i-p V-a-n W-i-n-k-1-e. 

(Enter little man with keg on his shoulder and he motions Rip 
to come and help him) 

Rip — Why, that must be one of the villagers. I will go and 

help him. 
(Rip and little man carry keg across stage. Curtain drops 

quickly, and then rises, and we see little men playing 

ten pins. Enter little man and Rip.) 

Rip. My but that was a heavy keg. 

(Little men motion for Rip to pour them some ale. Rip 
obeys and while they are playing he drinks, until he falls 
asleep.) 

Curtain. 

Scene 4, Act 1. 

Scenery. The tavern scene with Dutch farmers, discussing 
the disappearance of Rip. 

Inn keeper — Wonder where Rip has been keeping himself. 
I haven't seen him for two or three days. My how I 
miss him. He's such a jolly old chap. 

Farmer Jones — E's promised to 'elp me in my cornfield, 
but I 'avn't seen him this week. E's so obligin'. 

Another Farmer — Kind o' thought he would be around to 
help me with the pumpkins, but he' hasn't showed up 
this week. I surely miss the old fellow. 

Van Bummel — (laughing) Wonder if his wife scared him 
out. (everyone laughs) Poor old fellow. He has a 
hard time of it and all the children of the village look lost 
without him. 
(Enter Dame, peering about her) 

Dame — What have you lazy fellows done with my husband ? 

He hasn't been home for three days, and the fields are 

all going to waste. 
Inn keeper — Don't know, Ma'am, hasn't been around here. 



160 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Nicholas Veclder — I saw him going hunting with his com- 
panion, Wolf. 

Dame — Yes, but the old cur came home. 

Van Bummel — Perhaps he shot himself. I'll go and see if 
I can't find him. 

Farmer Jones — The Indians might have carried him away. 

Dame — Shot himself, Indians, indeed. Oh, he'll be home 
to get something to eat. 
(Exit Dame) 

Inn keeper — I wonder where Rip is. 

(As curtain goes down Rip's friends shake their heads.) 

Act 5, Scene 1. 

Scenery, a mountain scene. As curtain goes up we see Rip 

asleep on dry leaves. 
(Rip lies asleep for awhile then stirs and wakes up.) 

Rip — (rubbing his eyes) Have I been asleep all night ? 
(arises) What will Dame Van Winkle say? Wolf, Wolf, 
Wolf, (Whistles) Oh, he'll be back pretty soon, I guess. 
He is just chasing a rabbit. (Picks up rusty gun barrel) 
Why, this is not my gun. Those little mountain scoun- 
drels. They just gave me that wine to get my gun. 
Well, I'd better hurry home now. (Stops) What ex- 
cuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle? 

Curtain. 

Scenery. — Union hotel in the rear. To right is a flag pole 
from which stars and stripes wave. As the curtain rises a 
group of politicians are seen about the door. 

A man — (Waving his arms) The rights of citizens must be 
observed. What did George Washington and the heroes 
of 76 fight for if not for liberty? 

Rip — Oh, that wicked flagon. It has addled my poor head 
sadly. As I passed through the village I saw no one 
that I saw last night. I see strange faces at the windows, 
strange names on the doors, and my own house has gone 
to decay. The doors are off their hinges and the windows 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 161 

shattered. A half starved dog, that looked like Wolf, 
my very own dog, growled at me. Dame Van Winkle 
was not there. I called for my children but my house 
was empty, so I came here to find some friends, but they 
are gone too, and these men are strangers to me. 
What has become of the old tree? Is that a night cap 
up there? (Men stroke their chins and so does Rip, 
and he finds that he has grown a foot beard) And what 
has happened to my beard? (goes over to look at picture 
of George Washington) Why, that is not a picture of 
King George. My, where am I? I thought I knew 
every one but these men are strangers. 

Orator — (Drawing Rip aside) On which side do you vote ? 

Another — Are you Federalist or Democrat ? 

Gentleman — What brought you to election with a gun on 
your shoulder? 

Rip — Alas, Gentlemen, I am a poor man, a native of the 
place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him. 

The Crowd — A Tory, a Tory, a spy, a refugee, hustle him, 

away with him. 
Orator — He came here to do no harm, but just to look for 

friends. 
Man — Well, who are they ? Name them. 
Rip — Where's Nicholas Vedder? 
Man — Nicholas Vedder ? Why he is dead and gone these 

eighteen years. There was an old wooden marker in 

the churchyard that used to tell all about him, but it too 

has rotted and gone. 
Rip — Where's Brom Dutcher? 
Another — Oh, he went off to the war. Some say he was 

killed at the storming of Stony Point. Others say he 

was drowned in a squall at the foot of Anthony's Nose. 

I don't know. He never came back. 
Rip — Where's Van Bummel, the schoolmaster? 
Another — He went off to the war too. He was a great miUtia 

general and is now in Congress. 

M 



162 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Rip. Full of despair — Does nobody know Rip Van Winkle? 

A Man — Oh, Rip Van Winkle, there is Rip Van Winkle 
leaning against a tree. 

A Man — Who are you and what is your name ? 

Rip. God knows, I am not myself. I was myself last night, 
but I fell asleep on the mountain. They changed my 
gun and everything is changed, and I am changed, but 
I cannot tell my name nor who I am. 

(Enter Judith) 

Judith — Hush Rip, hush you little fool. The old man will 
not hurt you. 

Rip — What is your name my good woman ? 

Judith — Judith Gardinier. 

Rip — And your father's name ? 

Judith — Ah, poor man, his name was Rip Van Winkle, but 
it is twenty years since he went away with his dog and 
gun, and never returned. His dog came home without 
him, but whether he shot himself or whether the Indians 
carried him off we do not know. I was but a little girl 
then. 

Rip — Where's your mother ? 

Judith — Oh, she too has died a short time since. She broke 
a blood vessel in a fit of passion against a New England 
peddler. 

Rip — I am your father, young Rip Van Winkle once, now old 
Van Winkle (all stand amazed) 

Old Woman — (coming from the crowd) Sure enough it is 
Rip Van Winkle. Welcome home again old neighbor. 
Why, where have you been these twenty long years ? 

Rip — The day I went away on the mountain, I heard a voice 
calling me. I looked around and suddenly I saw a man 
carrying a keg. He motioned for me to come and help 
him. So I did. We carried the keg into the mountains 
where we saw little men playing ten pins. They motioned 
for me to pour out some ale, so I obeyed and when they 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 163 

were not looking, I took some, and liking it very much 
I took some more until I fell asleep, and when I awoke 
everything was changed. 

Judith — Well, father come home and live with me. 

Rip — But Dame Van Winkle. Oh to be sure. 
Rip and Judith exit. Curtain. The End. 

Dramatizations for Entertainments 

The stimulation of appearing before the public and 
the poise that comes from such work has been long recog- 
nized by teachers. The use of the dramatic in the man- 
ner that has been indicated will take the place of the 
^^ rhetoricals " that have been such a bugbear to many 
children. Those who are sensitive about performing be- 
fore the public can gradually work up to it without the 
dread that comes from the thought of an individual ap- 
pearance. Then if large sections of the regular school 
work can be prepared by the pupils and teacher for 
presentation to parents on special days, the work of the 
entire school takes on a dignity that it would not pos- 
sess, had the teacher gone outside to choose selections for 
exhibitions. Regular work then is something that can 
be given a special charm for a special time as well as 
being useful for every day. Parents are likely to take 
more interest in the regular work as a result. As a usual 
thing more children take part when some school subject 
is dramatized, and even those who do not take part in 
the presentation can feel that it represents their own 
efforts, for they have helped to create it. 

As part of an entertainment given for another grade 



164 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

and for some of the mothers, an eighth grade with the 
help of their teacher conceived the idea of presenting 
in a dramatization some of the work they had been doing 
in hygiene. Most of the different activities of this sub- 
ject such as first aid, cleanhness, and correct Hving habits 
lend themselves very nicely to dramatization. The 
teacher formulated the general idea for them and let them 
work around it. 

The ideas of an adult mind, gained by the children in 
their class work or given directly by the teacher, are 
evident in the play that follows. Many little features 
which the teacher might have left out but which appealed 
to the children are just as evident. One special factor 
that the teacher must guard against is the desire of the 
children for too much of the ridiculous. Note, for 
example, the names of the characters in this play. 
More or less of this may be allowed, but the children 
should be led to see that it has its limit, and that the 
funny section will be more powerful if it follows some- 
thing that is quite serious and instructive. Quite a study 
upon this very point was carried on by an eighth-grade 
class in the construction of one of their plays. One of 
the boys went so far as to collect examples from master 
plays. Such wide interests, which are probably the real 
aim of instruction in classes, are continually developing 
when we appeal to the child's instincts and individuality. 

In this play the children worked with great enthu- 
siasm to learn all the first aid measures so that they might 
do them very quickly without tiring the audience. They 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 165 

planned and furnished their own costumes. The boys 
who were to appear as deacons wore long coats and small 
mustaches. The girls made an appearance that was quite 
representative of an old-fashioned ladies' aid society. 
The making of the entire play together with the practice 
that was necessary for giving it took up a thirty-minute 
period daily for two weeks at' the end of the term. It 
made a splendid review of some of the essential features 
of the work together with a good exposition of the cen- 
tral idea of their course^ that they must act, not talk, 
about cleanliness. Plays like this one can be made and 
given by children anywhere. They make splendid 
entertainments. 

A HYGIENE PLAY. ''Be Clean and Keep Cool.'' 

Act 1, Scene 1. 
Characters. 

Lizzie B. Dorothy B. ^ 

Hyacinth N. Alphonse T. 

Susan S. Gaston D. 

Maudell C. SaUie W. 

Lena S. Susan's daughter. 

A ladies aid society is meeting at the house of Lizzie B. 
The ladies are occupied with sewing. 

Hyacinth (looking out of the window) — If here don't come 
Deacon Alphonse and Deacon Gaston. 

Sallie — Prepare yourselves, ladies, for an inspection of your 
teeth. 

^ These names are examples of eighth-grade humor. They do not ap- 
peal to the adult mind, and it might have been better for the teacher to 
require more ordinary names. 



166 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Susan — We never have an aid meeting without old Alphonse 
bothering us about our teeth or Gaston talking [about 
germs and, dear me, this time we have both of them. 
Enter Alphonse and Gaston. 

Alphonse — As I was saying, Gaston, you can't get the germs 
until you get them out of the mouth. 

Sallie — Well, Alphonse, what is the latest in tooth powder? 

Maudell — How many members have you for your Mouth 
Hygiene Society? 

Alphonse — Ninety-five and you five will make it one hundred. 
But I will not stop until I make it a thousand. 

Lizzie — I would like to know who said we were going to join. 

Hyacinth — I would like to join, but tell us what this society 
means, Alphonse, and what good will such a society do? 

Alphonse — I will be glad to explain. 

(While Alphonse is explaining Gaston examines the place 
for germs with a large microscope, taking from his pocket 
a box of disinfectant powder, which he sprinkles in various 
corners.) The mouth hygiene society was first formed 
in Cleveland. Its main purpose is to get the public 
to ward off disease by cleaning and caring for their teeth. 
Do you know that nine tenths of all the people do not 
care for their teeth as they should? Also it is true that 
a room full of people, who have dirty teeth is a fearful 
source of contamination. There are about thirty-two 
square inches of surface in every mouth. Think of fifty 
persons in a room. Thirty-two times fifty makes 1600 
square inches or over eleven square feet. Suppose we 
had a surface of over eleven square feet through which 
the air we breathe would have to pass every minute, and 
would you like to have that surface clean or would you 
want it covered with slime, dirt and germs? But the 
air we breath in a crowded room is passing in and out of 
the mouths of everyone there continually. Moreover, if 
we want a race of strong, healthy people, they must have 
good teeth from childhood to old age. The first set is 
just as important as the second. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 167 

Susan — Well, well, Alphonse, this seems to be a splendid 
idea, and I am sure all of us would like to join. Now 
if we could only get old Mrs. H. to join. She is always 
too untidy and I don't believe a toothbrush has ever 
seen the inside of her house. 

Alphonse — Mrs. B. will you please pass the water. 

(Lizzie brings out a pitcher of water with one glass and 
when his turn comes Gaston refuses) 

Gaston — I refuse to drink from this glass on account of germs. 

Lizzie — What? Germs? I see no germs. This is clean 
water and the glass has been carefully washed since dinner. 
(Gaston takes out magnifying glass and holds it over 
the top of the glass of water shaking his head. He sum- 
mons Mrs. B. to come and look) 

Lizzie — What are those millions of little specks ? 

Gaston — Just as I have told you, you are looking at germs. 
Do you know that there is a law against the common 
drinking cup? Would you drink from a cup that other 
people and strangers have used? Any amount of the 
germs on this cup may be disease germs. The germs 
you saw undoubtedly came from the mouths of the per- 
sons who just used this glass. 

All — Germs ? Do we have germs ? 

(Maudell has a coughing fit) 

Gaston — More germs. Mrs. C. should have put her hand- 
kerchief to her mouth to keep us from catching her cold. 

Hyacinth — Wet feet, drafts, exposure, and such things cause 
colds. You don't mean to tell us that there is a cold 
germ? 

Gaston — These things, you mention, never cause colds in them- 
selves. If your system is in good order and you do not 
get the germs from another's cold you will not take cold. 
Drafts are good for the healthy outdoor man or woman. 

(Gaston and Alphonse start to leave.) 

Gaston — Good afternoon. Ladies, I hope you will keep clean 

and avoid germs. 
(Ladies draw chairs up close together and start gossiping) 



168 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Sallie — If old Mrs. H. could have only been present : she 
needs such advice so much. 

All — That is just what I think. 

Susan — You know, she sweeps with a dry broom and never 
dusts anything besides the tops of her chairs and table. 
You could write your name in the dust on her table legs. 

Lizzie — And, Law, do think how she sends those kids to 
school ; hair uncombed, faces dirty and clothing never 
brushed. 

Maudell — I wouldn't allow my children to associate with 
them. 

Sallie — And that is not all, the other day her little girl came 
over to my house and she was a sight to be seen. Her 
finger nails were long and had never been cared for. They 
were even green under the ends, and what is more I saw 
her putting them into her mouth and biting them off. 

Hyacinth — That boy's hair looks like a Russian thistle and 
he pulled out a handkerchief that hadn't been washed 
since last Winter. 

Susan — My children certainly never get into a state like that. 

(Enter Lena S., Susan's daughter, with Dorothy H.,the 
daughter of the woman of whom they have been talking. 
Lena is very dirty and untidy but Dorothy is exception- 
ally clean in a white dress) 

Lena — Say, Ma, Dorothy came over and, Ma, may we make 
candy, and Ma, we couldn't find a clean dish so may we 
wash the dinner and breakfast dishes ? 

Lizzie — Why, Dorothy H., how did you get so clean? 

Susan — Why Lena, what made you come over here looking 
like that ? 

Lena — That's the way I usually go. Ma. You know it is, 
Ma, and I just wanted to ask a question. 
(Susan puts hands over face) 

Dorothy — I've been keeping clean for an entire month. The 
last teacher in our district taught me how. I went to 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 169 

school for six years and made the highest grades in my 
class in hygiene, and you know, I always thought that 
hygiene was only to study so that we could make grades 
and pass. The last teacher Miss Useful, taught me that 
a grade didn't count much, but that I gained knowledge 
in order to use it. I told Ma, and Ma said that the teacher 
was crazy, but the more we thought about it, the more we 
thought she was right, and so we started in to use our 
knowledge. You should see the difference in our house. 
And we get books that tell us how to clean up. It is such 
fun to be really doing things. 

Maudell — Well, Dorothy, you certainly show it. What 
do you do in the house? 

Dorothy — Sam and I clean our teeth just before bed time 
every night. We both help Ma with the house work. 
Before school in the morning we wash dishes, sweep, and 
make the beds. It takes such a short time after you get 
at it. And then, I feel so much better in school after 
helping Ma at home. 

Lizzie — Why didn't your Ma come to aid society Dorothy? 

Dorothy — Ma said that she had often spent her time going 
out and talking when her work at home was not done up, 
and said she hadn't any time to lose today and didn't 
feel that she could afford to say anything about other 
people being dirty when she wasn't clean at home. 

SaUie — Well, Dorothy, I am certainly glad your mother 
has reformed, and Ladies I am going straight home and 
clean up my house. 

All — That's just what I am going to do. 
(All go and leave Lizzie at home alone) 

Lizzie — Well, dear me, I guess they are right. It is so easy 
to talk but so hard to do. 

(She moves a rug under which a large amount of floor 
sweepings have been hidden, and begins to clean them up) 

Curtain. 



170 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Act 2, Scene 1. 

Characters. 

Doctor Thompson Lizzie B. 

Mrs. C. Susan S. 

Sallie W. Mrs. Dr. T. 

Mrs. A. Mrs. E. 

Mrs . P. Mrs. H. 

Dr. Thompson is giving lessons in first aid to the injured 
to the members of the Ladies Aid Society. The ladies very 
rapidly and accurately perform his directions, one standing in 
front of the other and exchanging places. 

Dr. T. — Now the square knot, the head bandage, the sling, 
the arm bandage, the hand bandage, the eye bandage, the 
ear bandage. 

As the ladies do the work one of them explains each band- 
age. They have practiced these until they can do them 
very rapidly and the audience does not get time to become 
tired. 

Dr. T. — Now, Ladies, you have remembered your lessons on 
bandages very well. Let us see what you remember of 
your lessons on poisons. If you were to take strychnine 
by mistake, Mrs. B., what would you do? 

Mrs. B. — I would first take warm water and mustard, then 
strong tea, but I might be so overcome that I could not 
do anything. 

Dr. T. — What would you do to help her, Mrs. Q. ? 

Mrs. Q. — I would do as she has suggested and then try arti- 
ficial respiration. 

Dr. T. — But first of all, Mrs. Q. you should keep cool. Sup- 
pose, for example, that some person, who had been poi- 
soned, would rush in here, and I, a doctor, couldn't keep 
cool. What would happen to such a person? The first 
thing to remember is to think carefully before you act. 
Suppose, Mrs. P. that there was no mustard on hand. 

Mrs. P. — I would make her drink all the warm water I could 
get her to take. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 171 

Dr. T. — But above all, Mrs. P., keep cool. 

(At this juncture, Dr. Thompson turns to the audience 
and asks them to name any poison, and he points out a 
lady to give the antidote. Antidotes are either against 
acids or alkalis and are thus easily learned. Then as 
Dr. Thompson is looking into his grip, Mrs. A. rushes in 
poisoned) 

Mrs. A. — Help, help, help. I took a tablespoon of carbolic 
acid. I thought it was spirits of Nitre. 
(Dr. T. jumps, pushes over table full of bottles, and with 
his hands in his hair shouts.) 

Dr. T. — What shall I do? What shall I do? 

Mrs. A. — Help, help, I am burning up. 

Mrs. H. — Being as Dr. Thompson doesn't ''keep cool," I 
guess I will have to use the knowledge he has taught me. 
Now, Mrs. E. get me some lime, quick. 

(Mrs. E. jumps up and down) 

Mrs. E. — Where shall I get it? 

Mrs. H. — Knock a piece of plaster off the wall. 

(Mrs. E. obeys and dissolves plaster in water) 

Mrs. H. — Now, Mrs. A., drink this quickly. (She drinks) 

Mrs. A. (After they have watched her breathlessly for a 
few minutes) My, such a relief. Tell Dr. Thompson 
that I am ever so much obliged for his timely aid. 
(Enter Dr. T. looking somewhat abashed and trying to 
appear amused) 

Dr. T. — I am sorry, ladies, that such an occasion arose, but 
I thought it best to leave the room and let you ladies show 
your skill. 

Mrs. Ether — Did you hear about the big fire last night? 

Mrs. Peroxide — Yes, but how did it start? 

Mrs. Ether — Why didn't you know ? 

(Enter Mrs. Thompson, screaming, and with clothing on 
fire) 

Mrs. T. — Help, help, I am all on fire. (Everybody losey 
presence of mind) 



172 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

(Grocery boy enters with a box of groceries. He drops his 
box, grabs a rug and rolls Mrs. Thompson on the floor 
in the rug, smothering the imaginary flames.) 

Mrs. B. — to Grocery boy — How did you ever think of that? 

Grocer Boy — I learned that many years ago at the State 
Teachers College. • 

Dr. T. — Very well done, bring on my carron oil and bandages. 
He dresses wounds on arm. 

Dr. T. — Ladies, you have done very well today and so that 
your children may also profit send them to the State 
Teachers College. 

Summary of Uses and Misuses 

Dramatic material may be used in the lower grades 
without much organization or drill. If the children who 
read "The Circus Primer/' for example/ play the dif- 
ferent animal parts now and then^ interest is bound to 
be added, and they more than make up the time by the 
greater zest they put into the regular reading lesson. 
Indian and Esquimau life, stories they are told, and 
holiday happenings all furnish splendid dramatic material 
and are brought down to the level of the children in this 
way better than by any other method. 

In the upper grades longer plays with more careful 
organization furnish incentive for wide reading in regular 
subjects, and provide splendid practice in written and oral 
English. 

However, this is only one of the many race and indi- 
vidual interests which every child inherits and may be 
given too much time and attention. One or two plays 
like those given for illustration are enough for a term. 



UTILIZING A COMMON INTEREST 173 

There is little danger of doing too much dramatizing 
in the lower grades. Close attention and careful organ- 
ization by the teacher are necessary at all times. The 
actual good that will result from a study of the work to 
be dramatized and the practice in written and oral Eng- 
lish will depend upon the ability of the teacher to direct 
and inspire the class to do hard work. The result with- 
out such direction may be a type of work that it would 
have been better never to have attempted. The dra- 
matic is to be used as an incentive for, not as a diversion 
from, school work. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 

Nature's Provisions. The child, is naturally provided 
with many interests. They play a large part in his edu- 
cation. In the measure that the school recognizes and 
supervises the development of these interests, the more 
valuable they become. Allowed to grow up in their 
wild and natural state, interests often deteriorate and are 
lost, or develop in directions that are not profitable. 

Some natural interests are : 

1. The love of nature. Such an interest makes an 
admirable avocation in almost any calling. The man 
or the woman who has properly developed it will be 
happier and more efficient. The school should do every- 
thing in its power to foster it. 

2. Toys. Every child has and is interested in toys. 
Proper choice of toys by parents and education through 
toys would easily supply the material for a volume. 
A child may be helped in his education by the provision 
of proper toys. The school can often play a large part 
in stimulating this interest by the recognition of work 
done with toys, by influencing parents to provide proper 
toys, etc. 

174 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 175 

3. Constructions. To make things is often a delight. 
Many men receive great enjoyment from the construction 
interest all through life. I know one man who builds a 
boat every spring. When the winter gives place to 
warmer weather, he says that the smell of tar and paint 
gets into his nostrils. For his exercise during the spring 
months he builds a boat. He can usually sell it for 
more than the materials cost him. Thus his interest in 
constructing furnishes an inexpensive avocation and 
splendid exercise of the non-violent sort. Manual train- 
ing should have as one of its chief functions the de- 
velopment and preservation of this interest. 

The Collection Interest 

Many other interests could be named. The teacher 
need but study his classes to discover them. To illus- 
trate ways of relating the school to a natural interest 
the development of the collection habit has been chosen. 

The Universality of Collections. The collection inter- 
est is such a universal phenomenon of child and adult 
life that it has been designated by many as an instinct. 
It is considered here as an illustration of an interest which 
may be guided and developed by the school. ^' The 
treasures of children/' says Burk, '' are cherished by them 
with feelings of sacredness, pride, and importance which 
can hardly be appreciated by the adult unless he be 
blessed with a bit of foohsh sentiment himself or pos- 
sessed of a vivid memory penetrating back into the 
recesses of his own childish heart." She records that 



176 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

one boy had as many as sixty-six collections before he 
was ten years old, fifty-five of which were still being 
continued. 

Every normal child collects. What he collects would 
be hard to classify. In the earlier years the instinct is 
more or less blind. It seems to be the mere desire to 
hoard different objects that are attractive to the col- 
lector. There are close connections with our ancestors 
in these activities. There was undoubtedly a time in 
the life of the race when hoarding meant survival. This 
is true to a certain extent even to-day. But in the past 
when crops were not so sure, when communication was 
not so good, and when transportation was not so easily 
accomplished, the ability to hoard, especially such things 
as food supplies, must have been a valuable asset to 
individuals and races. In the animal world it is seen in 
bees, ants, squirrels, and many other creatures, and 
undoubtedly it is necessary to survival there. 

In more civilized times this interest has changed and 
does not have such close relation to the rest of the 
life of the collector. Yet it is an instinct just as clearly 
as it ever was. The housewife who puts up fruit in the 
fall usually gets more pleasure from the mere realization 
of an instinctive desire to collect than from the thought 
that she is putting away something for future use, al- 
though the motive of future use may be a part of the 
collecting interest. But the woman who is putting away 
her fruit for the winter gets great pleasure from the 
mere joy of putting it away. 




J 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 177 

This is the test of the instinct. It is pleasant in 
the immediate sense^ and it is useful in a more remote 
sense if rightly used. The financier wants more money, 
not especially that he may have more of the desires 
of life for himself or others that money can buy, but 
for money itself, as much as he can get of it. Land, 
houses, ships are all a part of his desire to achieve, 
and achievement in such cases is little more than a 
perversion of the hoarding and collecting interest. It 
is one of the deepest and biggest interests in life, and 
it has not been given its proper place in the schools. 
One might say of collections what has been said of many 
other things, ^^ Let me see the collections of a boy or man, 
and I will tell you what sort of person he is." 

The Significance of Spontaneous Collections 

Most great men have been great collectors. In visit- 
ing recently a university president it was noted that one 
of the chief interests in the life of this man seemed to be 
his collections. He had begun collecting as a boy, and 
his home, his rooms at the university, in fact every corner 
of any of the places he frequented was occupied by some 
sort of collection. He had hundreds of them, from ref- 
erence catalogues to collections of butcher knives. An- 
other man, the president of a normal school, says that 
his entire life has been devoted to collecting. The chief 
thing in his school is the large space given to museums. 

But one need only turn to the biographies of great natu- 
ralists to see what an important part this interest played 

N 



178 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

in their lives ; and for another side of it one need only 
look into the lives of the great financiers to find that they 
began to save very early in life. In the one case the col- 
lecting interest took a scientific turn ; in the other a turn 
toward more worldly possessions. It has been said of 
one of the great American naturalists that he had such 
a passion for collecting that he could not be trusted in 
a museum ; for he would be sure to steal any strange 
specimen which he might need to further his own col- 
lections. Naturalists who had especially wonderful col- 
lections were Agassiz, Baird, Burroughs, Wilson, and 
Thoreau. 

The hoarding of the miser seems to be a perversion of 
the collecting interest. There is usually something lack- 
ing in the life of the miser. One who has friends and 
family and a healthy supply of other interests is not 
likely to develop such a trait. George Eliot in ^^ Silas 
Marner ^' gives us a good picture of a case of this 
kind ; she also shows how a little girl came in and sup- 
plied the necessary stimulation for better traits in the 
same nature. 

Some Educational Values of Collections 

Persistence in Orderliness. One of the hardest habits 
to form in children is order. Continued watchfulness on 
the part of parents or teachers is almost impossible. 
Another and better method of bringing about orderliness 
is to allow the child to have possessions of his own and 
encourage him to keep them in order and to classify and 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 179 

arrange them. Collections serve this purpose admi- 
rably. The boy or the girl who keeps a collection through 
a number of years and keeps it in order will have gained 
something from it in the way of orderliness that will 
never be entirely lost. The collecting interest is valuable 
for this reason if for no other. Anyone who has tried to 
keep collections for a considerable time will readily ap- 
preciate this. Such a person knows how difficult the 
task is and the value to the child of a collection kept 
throughout a number of years. 

The average college student is unable to keep a card 
catalogue of the references which he wishes to preserve. 
It is so hard to keep and care for, and interest is so tran- 
sitory, that such a catalogue is usually allowed to scat- 
ter or is soon entirely forgotten. Those who have been 
collectors in childhood have little trouble in keeping 
these catalogues. The increase in a student's efficiency 
from such practice could not be measured, but it is un- 
doubtedly true that if a graduate of a normal school or 
college had conscientiously carded and filed away all the 
valuable suggestions and references he might have re- 
corded during a college course, his efficiency as a teacher 
would be multiplied indefinitely. Librarians continually 
complain that their greatest bother comqs from letters 
from students who have gone out to work, but who have 
forgotten even the names of the textbooks they used 
while in school. The point of interest here is that the 
practice and ability gained from keeping collections in 
childhood increases the ability of the adult. 



180 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Moral Value. Another advantage of having and 
keeping a good collection is the self-respect that comes 
to a child from doing anything well. The collection is 
also a measurable thing in Boyville. The respect that 
accrues to a boy who has a fine collection of stamps^ 
tags, birds' eggs, bird nests, butterflies, etc., is a very 
good reward for his work. Such a reward is the real life 
prize for which all of us work : the acknowledgment of 
good work by those who understand us and the tasks we 
are trying to do. The moral value alone of keeping a 
collection is enough to make it worth fostering. 

A Center for Life Interests. Even more important than 
the two values just mentioned are the life interests re- 
sulting from collecting. Most collections are those con- 
nected with nature study. Thus the child who keeps a 
collection of bugs, bird nests, or stones, things which 
arouse interest in the great world outside, usually keeps 
his interest in nature all the rest of his life. An investi- 
gation of adults who have kept collections reveals that 
a collection of some sort once having been made, the 
interest goes far into life. A man who collected stones 
when he was a child says that stones have been interest- 
ing to him ever since. When he goes walking, and often 
he would not go if it were not for this interest, he likes 
to pick up peculiar stones, and he thinks of his old col- 
lection although he has long since ceased to keep it up. 
Another says the same of birds and bird nests. And so 
it continues. This survival of the collecting interest is 
illustrated in the autobiography of Herbert Spencer, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 181 

If collections touch life in such a manner, it will be well to 
cultivate them and direct this energy into fields that are 
likely to be especially valuable. 

Special Collections 

Scientific Collections. From making scientific col- 
lections of stones, bugs, butterflies, or flowers, a boy 
may develop a scientific turn of mind which will be very 
valuable to his life career. His desire to investigate the 
true nature of his treasures may lead him to study topics 
that are quite technical. His reading may take this 
direction and may mean the turning point in his life. 
When reading becomes valuable to the boy for getting 
information along the line of his activities, it has be- 
come something more and better than an interest in wild 
tales from fiction. A boy who had a collection of butter- 
flies had read at the age of eleven more books in this field 
of science than the ordinary college graduate who may 
have taken half a dozen required courses in biology in 
his work for a degree. He says of his reading : 

'^ Most books don't give you what you really want, 
but I have read a few, maybe a couple of dozen in the 
last three years, since I began my collection. Among 
them are ' Ways of the Six-Footed,' ^ Insect Life,' and 
' Butterflies West of the Rockies.' Comstock also has a 
fair book, and I read an interesting book on ' English 
Butterflies ' not long ago. I have studied Holland's big 
books continually, that is, Holland's ' Moths ' and Hol- 
land's ' Butterflies.' " 



182 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

One need have no fear about the reading interest of 
this boy. 

The collection may serve as a motive for much of the 
boy's school work. His story telling may be based upon 
rambles and experiences with his collections^ and this 
may give occasion for an endless amount of constructive 
criticism of his English. He may acquire the ability to 
speak correctly and to describe accurately from telling 
of such experiences. He may write compositions about 
his collections. Often he brings more valuable infor- 
mation to the class in these compositions than the teacher 
is able to give. For example^ when a class wanted some 
real information about how to make a collection of moths 
and butterflies^ the composition below was written by a 
boy in the seventh grade, and read to the classes. The 
result was a great burst of interest by a large number 
of children, and a knowledge of moths and butterflies 
soon became common property of these grade children. 
The values of moths and butterflies, which ones were 
destructive, with actual examples of each one, their 
methods of propagation, and their life habits made a 
foundation for home and school work for some time. 

A Boy's Description of His Collection 

BUTTERFLIES ^ 

The first thing to get to start an insect collection is a cyanide 
of potassium bottle, a net, one or more cases. I recommend 

1 The punctuation and spelling, as well as the entire composition, are 
duplicated from the work of a seventh-grade boy. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 183 

Riker mounts 8 by 12 inches. Moth balls should be put in- 
side the cases to keep the moths out. Pins and mounting 
blocks (all sizes) are necessary. Mounting blocks are just 
blocks with grooves through the middle for the body of the 
moth or butterfly. All these things can be obtained from the 
Kny Scheer Co. N. Y. 

When you see the moth or butterfly you want, you must get 
your net and try to get him in it. After this is done squeeze 
the thorax so as to stun the insect, then put it in the cyanide 
bottle where it soon dies. This jar or bottle is made by putting 
ten cents worth of cyanide in the bottom of the jar, then put 
some plaster paris over it and punch holes in the plaster paris 
so that the fumes may come through. After the insect is 
dead take him out and put him on the mounting block. Stretch 
him out so as to make him appear as lifelike as possible. Wrap 
thin thread around the block and over the wings lengthwise 
of the body. Wrap until close to the body and then tie the 
string. Leave for three or more days. Then put in the case 
by removing the glass lid and inserting the insect on the cotton 
just as you want him to appear. Put moth balls just under 
the corners. Three of a kind make a good case, male and 
female, and underside. 

The Eastern insects are generally more attractive than those 
of Colorado. The moths are usually prettier than the butter- 
flies. They come in families as you will see from the names. 
There is the Papilo family, the Agrynnis family, and many 
others. The names of the ones I have are as follows : 

Butterflies : 

1. Vanessa Antiopa. 

2. Limochores taumas. 

3. Hesperia Xnthus. 

4. Hesperia Montivaga. 

5. Satysies alope (leaf wood nymph) 



184 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

6. Pholosora cattillus (west common black) 

7. Chrysophanus helloides (America copper) 

8. Bassilarchia Astynax. 

9. Chrysophanus — (America copper) 

10. PhoUsora Ubya (east common black) 

11. Hyapshila phylalus. 

12. Erynis metea. 

13. Arosia plerippus (milk weed) 

14. Basilarchia disippus. 

15. Colias somelas (Sulphur) 

16. Colias interior. 

17. Tertas Mexicana. 

18. Nathatis iola. 

19. Colias Eurytheme (giant sulphur) 

20. Omega Noston Euryetice (brimstone) 

.... etc., etc., continuing to forty different kinds of butter- 
flies and twenty-one different kinds of moths, with the state- 
ment at the end that he had several kinds that he could not 
name. 

Stamp Collections. A stamp collection formed the 
basis for almost expert knowledge of geography by an 
eighth-grade boy. Without a doubt he knew more about 
countries in many remote parts of the world than did 
any of his teachers. It is admitted that he had stamps 
from colonies of which the writer had never heard. A 
great deal of interest and value was added by a few sug- 
gestions from the teacher. He classified his stamps 
under the headings of mother country and colonies. He 
soon came to know all the colonies and islands with in- 
dependent local governments of all the great nations. 
He would constantly look these up on maps, and when- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NATURAL INTEREST 185 

ever he found a stamp from a country or colony that he 
did not know of, he would immediately find it on the 
map, noting whether it was a dependency, and, if so, to 
what country it belonged. He made special studies of 
the countries from which his stamps came. 

The knowledge of geography in such a case is not the 
main good result of the collection. The ability to do re- 
search work at an early age and the habit of independent 
investigation when the teacher or taskmaster is not over 
him emancipates such a boy. If no accident occurs, his 
future is assured. The boy who had this stamp collec- 
tion had been quite a cigarette smoker before his interest 
developed in his project. He quite forgot his smoking 
in his eagerness for all kinds of work after this, and he 
was advanced a grade in school because he had clearly 
demonstrated his ability to do high school work. In 
high school his work was of the highest grade. This 
boy's work was the result of contact with a teacher who 
fostered his life interests and took interest in him as a 
boy. 

Collections to Be Made by Teacher and Children 
for the School. Children who become interested in such 
collections as private enterprises should be encouraged. 



Geography 

Post cards. 

Pictures. 

Museums of products. 

Railroad folders containing maps and descriptions. 



186 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Steamship folders. 

Special literature advertising farm crops, business oppor- 
tunities, and resorts. 
Coins. 

The school which has a few of these collections will 
not only have a large and growing body of material that 
will furnish a center for its geography work, but an in- 
terest in objects of the nature collected will go with the 
children into life. They are likely to bring rare gifts 
to the school. These collections and museums should 
be made a regular source of information concerning 
every new country or industry studied, and the more 
that is made of individual interest and donations the 
larger the results will be. It is often surprising how large 
and valuable a collection may become in one year. 

History Collections 

Old histories and source books. 
Historical documents. 
Flags. 

Historical pictures. 

Buttons on which are pictures of presidents or other his- 
torical characters. 
Coins. 

Nature Study 

Butterflies and moths. 
Birds' nests. 

The collecting of birds' eggs should be discouraged. 
The boy is not hard to control in this matter. TJob sub- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OP A NATURAL INTEREST 187 

stitution of the nest, which may be taken after the birds 
have reared their young and left, works quite well. Other 
collections from nature are : 

Stones. 

Seeds. 

Pressed Flowers. 

Shells. 

Both historical and nature collections are valuable to 
the school and furnish a decided help in the study of 
these subjects. The description of the values to the in- 
dividual that may come from any one of the above col- 
lections might take up an entire chapter. 

Collections to he Discouraged 

The collecting interest is general in the sense that it 
does not attach itself to any one type of article. Objects 
in nature come nearest to holding first place. But the 
field of endeavor is likely to depend upon environment 
and upon suggestions from other persons. Energy that 
may have been applied in wholesome and valuable fields 
is often dissipated in the collection of objects that are 
degrading. 

A collection of this type is tobacco tags. Almost 
every man has collected them sometime in his boy- 
hood. They lead boys to gutters, to trash piles and 
sweepings from hotels and pool halls, and into the alleys 
behind grocery stores. No one can question the dehght 
of a boy, who, after going to the bottom of a trash 
heap, finds a strange new tag. But a study of his in- 



188 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

terest will convince one that it is easy to turn him toward 
nature or geology or something where the energy which is 
being wasted on tags can be used to advantage. Com- 
mon as it may be there is no need of the tobacco tag, cigar 
band, or cigarette picture collection. It results from 
chance association, nothing more. 

It is foolish to rail against such collections or at- 
tempt to forbid them. The only sure method of getting 
rid of them is to substitute something more valuable. 
A keen insight into boy nature is necessary in order to do 
this ; children turn their energies into many strange 
channels. A number of useless collections that are 
quite common are : 

Horses counted, white or black. 

Bald-headed men counted. 

Trade marks. 

Envelopes. 

Knots in ropes. 

Labels. 

It is not a sin to indulge in such activities and often 
they furnish a channel for surplus energy which it might 
be hard otherwise to control. But the same energy 
should be used to positive advantage. It is often sur- 
prising how quickly a child will turn to more worth-while 
endeavor at the slightest suggestion. 

Finally, we have an interest which will function more 
or less, whether or not we recognize or use it. If the school 
ignores it, the result is likely to be the same as with 
anything else that grows wild and uncultivated. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SELECTION AND EMPHASIS OF SUBJECT 

MATTER 

One of the most important functions of the teacher is 
the selection of subjects and parts of subjects for special 
emphasis. Some subjects must be given more time in 
the day's program and more space in the curriculum than 
others. Also parts of any giv.en subject should be taught 
with greater emphasis than other parts. There are facts 
in every branch of learning which need not be brought 
into the school at all; and every teacher, as he plans his 
work, should conscientiously ask himself whether the 
material he is requiring the children to spend their time 
and energy in learning is worth while. 

But even when it is evident that the subject matter 
being taught is valuable, there is always room for much 
thought on the question whether the children might not 
be engaged in something far more profitable to them. 
^' For everything we gain we lose something else " ; 
while we were refining the ability to write by practicing 
long after the necessary speed and legibility for com- 
plete living has been reached, we might have taught the 
children how to keep books. In this case it is worth 
while to be able to write better than " very well," but 

189 



190 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

not as essential to most of us as a hundred other abilities 
which might have been improved during this time. 

To some material the child need have little more than 
a good exposure ; while some should be mastered as an 
integral part of his life. The school of the past did not 
properly differentiate between these classes of subject 
matter. It followed the slogan which we hear now and 
then given in criticism of the schools to-day, ^' It makes 
little difference what you do just so you do it thoroughly.'' 
" Thoroughness " when blind is just as bad as its op- 
posite. One may be a thorough villain. In school a 
child may be forced to waste most of his growing years in 
^^ thoroughly " covering a curriculum which unfits him 
for success in life. 

In geography and history, for example, ^' local color " 
may be brought into any lesson in order to stimulate 
interest. How the Hindu boy goes fishing and the kind 
of fish he catches, and John Smith explaining the com- 
pass to the Indians are bits of local color well worth 
considering ; but they serve as mere incidents. A study 
of the life of Longfellow may serve as a setting for the 
literary appreciation of his works if it is made with this 
specific aim. There is no value in requiring the class 
to memorize and be able to give in a test the dates of his 
birth and death, or the times and places of the chief 
incidents in his life. In hygiene the child may be shown 
a model of the human spine, but we no longer require 
him to know the number of bones therein. Undoubtedly 
such a model should have the correct number, but this is 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 191 

an incident. Concrete illustrations might be given of a 
large number of materials ranging in value from those 
given as incidents to such important knowledge as the 
necessity for, and the proper methods of, caring for the 
teeth, the acquisition of the habit of reading good books, 
and accuracy in the fundamentals of arithmetic. When 
we have covered any subject, certain definite valuable 
parts of it should be retained, and these should be the 
parts upon which children are examined. The remainder 
of the subject need not be considered further. The 
ability to select that which is vital must be developed 
by both teachers and children. Too much time has 
been wasted on the unessential. Anyone who will visit 
schools may see whole recitations and even months of 
them devoted to unimportant features of a subject while 
the vital elements are being entirely neglected. 

Illustrations from Geography 

From studying the work in geography as it is offered in 
ten of our leading cities and in several well-known private 
schools, it appears that the attitude towards this subject 
and the selection for emphasis of its various elements may be 
summed up as follows : 

Below the fourth grade geography, history, reading, story- 
telling, and handwork are so combined and correlated that 
geography is not a separate subject. Thus the geography 
which furnishes an interesting story, that which is connected 
with a historical event, and the portions which may lend 
themselves to illustration in handwork or furnish good read- 
ing selections are chosen as being especially valuable at this 
time " 



192 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The three grades, fourth, fifth, and sixth, are rapidly being 
fixed as the period in which geography is taught as a separate 
study. This, of course, does not include commercial geography. 

The elements which are being emphasized are : 

1. Thorough understanding of the locational, business, 
and commercial geography of the home city, county, state, and 
nation. 

2. Constant comparison with home conditions in the study 
of other places. 

3. A thorough understanding of the world in the aspect 
of its larger elements ; that is, continents, oceans, large rivers, 
mountain ranges, leading countries, and important cities. 

4. As much specific study as time will allow of the various 
world elements, i.e., peoples, industries, places of interest, 
and products which can be related to the lives of the children 
and be given meaning and significance to them. 

Considering the above principles representative of the 
ideals of our most successful schools, any teacher may evaluate 
lessons and courses of study in geography so as to teach in 
such manner that the class will acquire a good body of essen- 
tial and valuable knowledge, which will form the core of the 
work. Wide contact and reading should form the background. 
Too often children are required to memorize facts which are 
not important, contacts are not wide, and nothing definite is 
retained. Some illustrations of facts of comparative value are : 

Valuable information : 

1. Important facts about the home city are the locations 
of the chief buildings, as post office, library, parks, places 
of business, etc., the names of the streets and a knowledge of 
numbering so as to be able to locate any address with ease, 
an understanding of the city's growth and size, imports and 
exports, manufacturing and other industries, railroads, tele- 
phones, and the Hke. One may proceed to the county by study- 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 193 

ing in a comparative way other cities in the same county, the 
value of the surrounding country to the home city and the 
value of the city to the rest of the county. The state and 
nation may be studied in the same way, by making constant 
comparisons with local conditions and by revealing the influ- 
ences of each upon the other. 

2. In studying foreign countries their connections with 
the home country must be a constant part of the work. London 
is a great commercial center, for example. How does it com- 
pare with New York? Why are New York and London such 
large cities? What are ten other large cities of the world? 
Why have all of them become large cities ? What does America 
export to and import from England? Are the industries of 
the home community represented in this commerce? Are 
we, therefore, dependent upon business success in London? 
etc., etc. 

Worthless information sometimes required : 

1. Memorizing long lists of cities with the location of 
each. 

2. The "bounding" of various states or counties, espe- 
cially distant ones. 

3. Studies of coast lines requiring the ability to outline 
and name bays, capes, peninsulas. 

4. Memorizing specific lengths of rivers. 

5. Memorizing the names of state capitals. Often the 
capital of a state is a very unimportant place. 

6. Memorizing the names of the capitals of all the coun- 
tries of a continent, as South America. Only the capitals of 
the leading world powers need be learned, and these usually 
for some other reason than the fact that they are capitals. 

In fact, it may be said that a wrong emphasis has been 
made in geography because of too much pure memory work not 
connected with any definite purpose. Once let the teacher begin 



194 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to teach of places and industries for their specific values to the 
children, and mistakes are not likely to be made. 

A noted American educator expressed his opinion of 
the old-style memory work he had gone through in geography 
by the statement, ''I regard my knowledge of these facts as 
very important. I may be called upon to use it at any time. 
If, for instance, a burglar should come into my house to-night, 
place a pistol at my temple, and tell me to name all the bays 
and capes of Massachusetts or forfeit my life, I could name 
them for him and thus save myself." 

The Development of the Present Attitude towards 
Subject Matter. Three definite periods have marked the 
growth of the subject matter which now makes up the 
American elementary school curriculum. They may be 
described as the traditional, the hypercritical, and the 
evaluating periods ; the last is the product of the strug- 
gle between the first and second. Since there are still 
many representatives of the traditional as well as of the 
hypercritical, it is well that we consider the essential 
elements and basic principles of these periods to secure a 
better understanding of evaluation and selection. 

The Reactionary or Traditional View 

During the latter half of the nineteenth century school 
authorities held sway in a manner that almost approached 
divine right. Anything that pertained to the school 
was to be taken as a matter of course. Those who did 
question were looked upon as having aligned themselves 
against the forces which were working for the betterment 
of mankind. It was during this period that a Boston 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 195 

superintendent said he would like to see the person who 
could find anything the matter with any school in 
that city. This is an instance of the typical attitude 
of satisfaction among schoolmen everywhere. 

During this time most of the curriculum which we have 
inherited was becoming established. Due to lack of 
criticism little care was used in its selection. Much was 
incorporated as the result of accident. A teacher, after 
an extended period of trial and error practice, might 
suddenly come into control of a school system. Never 
having been schooled in educational values, he naturally 
selected the high points in his own experience as the 
standard for his schools. Change came slowly or not at 
all. Knowledge was looked upon as an end in itself. 
The highest aim was as broad an acquaintance with the 
subject matter of the school as it was possible to attain. 
No discrimination was made between facts of different 
value, and the application of the knowledge gained at 
school was not to be doubted or specifically questioned. 
Of course, it did not function. Its value was merely 
assumed. 

The subjects taught were those whose materials were 
easiest to obtain. Those which demanded the least equip- 
ment on the part of the school and of the teacher natu- 
rally came to the front. This was true, not because 
anyone maliciously planned such a program, but on ac- 
count of the general lack of inquiry into school practice 
everywhere. Parents paid their taxes and were as in- 
terested in the advancement of their children as they are 



196 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to-day, but everyone seemed to assume that sending 
them to school was the final parental sacrifice. Once he 
was successfully through school, the future of the child 
was considered assured. Spelling, reading, arithmetic, 
writing, American history, and geography were stressed 
as the " essentials," and now and then a few other sub- 
jects such as music, drawing, and manual work were 
allowed to come in as ^^ side lines." 

This view, to be sure, has not entirely passed. There 
is always a minority who like to find themselves in har- 
mony with tradition. This group also finds ready re- 
cruits from the great mass of incapables who cannot 
attain the modern standard. Apparently the large 
body of traditional supporters is a product of the tradi- 
tional school; they are specialists in its subject matter; 
they earn their living by teaching it. It is too late for 
them to change, so they band themselves into societies 
and use every means they can to uphold what they do. 
Eliminate those who have financial reasons for up- 
holding the unselected subject matter of the old curricu- 
lum, and few would be left to defend it. It is readily 
understood, for example, why a teacher who cannot 
speak or write correct English will advocate diagraming 
and parsing in the place of teaching effective speaking and 
writing. 

The Hypercritical View 

The period of establishment having passed, the work of 
the more active schoolmen was no longer necessary in 
arousing intellectual sluggishness to a proper support of 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 197 

education. Their energies were now turned towards 
the reform and improvement of the schools. This grad- 
ually led to an attempt to establish education as a 
science and teaching as a profession. The great leaders 
of the new movement were sane in their criticisms and 
sure in their recommendations. They set up the needs 
of the child as paramount to the demands of the curricu- 
lum. They studied childhood and established a concrete 
foundation for the discovery of what these needs were and 
how the old curriculum violated them. They gave us 
a general philosophy of education which it will take the 
world centuries to live up to. 

Following their lead, however, there has sprung up a 
body of critics who are more destructive than construc- 
tive. They seem to think it the duty of an educator to 
criticize that which is. These persons may be said to 
hold the hypercritical view. 

The hypercritic is in the same class with the political 
agitator. His development has been brought about by 
a series of circumstances. First of all, those who are 
temperamentally unstable and pessimistic will always be 
overcritical of any line of work they enter. We find 
them in all the professions and trades. Second, there 
will always be a group who have ideal theories which 
they have not had opportunity to practice ; they cannot 
realize that giving advice is not difficult, but that carry- 
ing it out is another matter. Third, there is much theory 
which would be found wanting if applied in actual school 
work. 



198 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The difficulty of distinguishing between the hyper- 
critic, who has no basis for his statements nor anything 
to take the place of what he would destroy and the con- 
structive educational student is one of the factors in 
the lack of progress in practice. The public knows that 
if it follows the traditional view it is not likely to 
create new difficulties for itself, and that in taking the 
advice of its critics and trying to live up to their 
prescriptions, unknown difficulties worse than those at 
hand may be encountered. As a hindrance to advance- 
ment the hypercritic is the hardest problem the true 
reformer has to deal with. 



The Modern Study of Values 

During the last decade we have seen leaders in educa- 
tional thought joining hands with the administrator in 
solving the tremendous problems which the latter has to 
face. Instead of condemning from the outside, educators 
have gone inside and have sympathetically considered 
the values of what they find. The many careful surveys 
containing constructive recommendations are examples of 
this new union between theory and practice. To be sure, 
the educational ^' expert " often finds that many of his 
basic principles and theories will not work when he 
comes to apply them to an actual school. He also finds 
that the ability to wield school machinery is a science in 
itself ; for in helping the public in one way, it is very 
possible to injure it in several others. 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 199 

Principles Underlying Evaluation 

The first question which faced those who were striving 
properly to evaluate the work of the school was : '^ On 
what basis shall we judge this work ? " The old attitude, 
as explained above, was almost a worship of the mastery 
of subject matter regardless of its application. A new 
spirit of criticism was beginning to condemn the course 
of study as being without any value. 

Function in Life the First Principle. There is no 
disagreement among educational leaders to-day concern- 
ing the basic principle in the evaluation of school subjects. 
Their use in life or functional value is the first measure 
that should be applied. The school is fast eliminating 
subjects and parts of subjects which have no life values. 

The idea of function must not be limited to purely 
vocational values. To be able to earn it is no doubt a 
basic element of complete living but not necessarily all 
of it. Subjects of social value and those which teach 
one to appreciate the world in which he lives must also 
be included. The ability to spend spare time in wise 
and profitable recreation must be developed, and training 
which will insure physical and mental stability is just as 
necessary. The principle of function is not narrow but 
it is definite. There are four specific ways in which 
subject matter may function in the lives of those who 
take it. These are : 

1. The development of physical and mental health. Play, 
physical training, hygiene, and physiology come directly 
under this function, and are the most important subjects 



200 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

in the curriculum because physical and mental health 
are essential to the full realization of any of the other 
aims of life. The school has not appreciated until re- 
cently how large a part it plays in developing or injuring 
the health of children. It is hard to convince some teach- 
ers that it is more essential to the child's development 
that he play well, than that he study arithmetic or gram- 
mar, but we are progressing, and the time will come when 
at least one fourth of our regular school session will be 
spent in some form of play. 

2. Training which ivill develop the ability to earn a living, 
or to produce something of economic value. Woodwork, 
mechanics, printing, commercial branches, home econom- 
ics courses, and agriculture have been included in the ele- 
mentary school curricula of many of our leading schools 
as pre-vocational subjects. These are gradually finding 
a larger place and are being given more time. From the 
fifth grade up, an hour a day should be devoted to some 
type of definite pre-vocational training. 

3. Social development. A third factor is the develop- 
ment of the child's social nature. He must be trained to 
live at peace with his neighbors and willingly to shoul- 
der social responsibilities in living up to his duties as a 
citizen of his community, his country, and the world. 
Discipline, civics, history, some parts of literature, and 
free social relationships between the children contribute 
directly to this function. 

4. Culture and recreation. Education must place man 
upon a higher plane by giving him the power to enjoy 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 201 

the world about him in a better way than he could if he 
merely indulged his instincts. Any subject which con- 
tributes to the development of the ability to appreciate 
better things is quite worth while. Culture, however, 
has been a very ambiguous term in the past. It is 
gradually being coupled with recreation by modern edu- 
cators. This both elevates recreation and makes culture 
practical. Music, art, literature, history, nature study, 
and the modern languages are in this class. Any subject, 
however, may be cultural and recreational if it is taught 
in the right way. 

The fundamentals of the common branches are essen- 
tial to the development of any of these functions, and are 
regarded everywhere as the common basis. 

The Objective in Teaching Every Subject. Every sub- 
ject in our present elementary school curriculum can be 
made to function in all of the four ways described above. 
The chief duty of the teacher is to select the useful and 
discard the useless parts, and to use methods which will 
relate the materials selected to the lives of the children 
as embracing these four functions of subject matter. 

Illustrations of the application of these principles to various 
subjects : 

Geography. 

The illustrations of the selection of vital facts in this sub- 
ject, as given earlier in this chapter, bring out all the four 
elements of the usefulness of subject matter. 

In studying, the home city health conditions should be one 
of the chief features considered. The child should study the 
water system, considering at all times the possibilities of con- 



202 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

tamination. He should know how his city ranks with others 
from the health standpoint. In fact, in studying the activities 
of man anywhere upon the face of the globe, the teacher should 
constantly impress upon the children the necessity of vitality 
and health in the pursuit of any occupation. When the child 
has finished his course in geography, he should have a better 
understanding of the necessity for him to keep up and further 
his own vitality. 

Geography, of course, in its studies of industries, occupa- 
tions, manufacturing, etc., should have a direct vocational 
bearing. From it the child should learn ways and means of 
travel, the values of different industries, and possibilities of 
vocations. This knowledge will form a general background 
for any vocation. 

Geography can be taught so as to have large social influ- 
ence upon those who study it. In learning of the various 
elements of the home community, state, and nation, the child 
should come in contact with facts which will make him a 
better and more efficient citizen. In learning of the relation 
of his own nation and community to foreign countries, his social 
consciousness is enlarged. The City of Indianapolis has 
recently taken a great educational stride by combining its 
history, civics, and geography courses. 

The study of geography may be made to function jn the 
culture-recreational direction by developing the child's interest 
in the rest of the world. This knowledge should be valuable 
to him in ordinary conversations, reading, and travel. 

Thus, if properly selected, the subject matter of geography 
may be made to fit into every phase of the function of educa- 
tional subject matter. That it has not done this in the past 
is due entirely to the facts that were selected for teaching and 
the methods of presenting them. There is plenty of valuable 
material in the subject. 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 203 

History. 

History, when properly selected, also furnishes good material 

in all four fields. 

Health and vitality can readily be shown to be a basic 
feature in the exploits of great men and in the destiny of peoples. 
Washington succeeded, first of all, because he was a vital 
man. Every boy or girl who studies the exploits of great 
men should be impressed by this fact. The Roman empire 
declined because the vitality of the people was sapped by 
easy hving and by over-indulgence. History abounds with 
instances which may be used to impress upon children the 
necessity of vitality. 

Vocationally, history is being vitalized by substituting 
for the study of wars and of battles the history of the growth 
of industries. A study of the heroes of peace, and the large 
part that is always played by labor and the industries in the 
advancement of any nation either in war or in peace is bound 
to help the vocational viewpoint. 

History, like geography, has large social values. It is 
readily evident to anyone who will study the teaching of 
history in the German schools that this has had a direct influ- 
ence in bringing about the world war. A knowledge of history 
should enlarge the vision and sympathies of the student as 
well as make him better informed. The subject is invaluable 
from this angle. 

History should be so taught that the child will want more 
of it. He will thus read and discuss it for his recreation. Such 
recreation is highly cultural. 

Methods of teaching for both health and social values 
are considered in later chapters. They are neglected 
more often than the other two. 



204 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

A Second Vital Principle Is to Make Subject Matter 
and Methods Conform to Physical and Mental Growth 
of Children. Much waste is incurred and immeasurable 
injury is inflicted upon those whom we teach when we 
force them too early into tasks which they would master 
later on as a matter of growth and when we defer instruc- 
tion in subjects which can never be mastered unless their 
elementary phases are studied early. To adjust rightly 
the subject matter and methods of the school to the 
growth of children is not fully possible with our present 
knowledge. Meumann has collected the experimental 
data up to 1910. It has taken two large volumes, and 
with all the problem of adjusting school practice to child 
growth is not yet solved. There is a consensus of opinion, 
however, among practical leaders regarding a few basic 
features of the application of this principle. These will 
be considered in a general way since space does not per- 
mit the bringing in of experimental evidence at this time. 
They are : 

1. The mechanics of the common branches should be 
learned as early in the school course as is compatible 
with physical and mental health. They form the basis 
for all other school work and are mastered with less dif- 
ficulty early in life than at a later period. This state- 
ment may seem to run counter to the proposition which 
has been so well demonstrated in experiment that up to 
the age of twenty or thereabouts the ability to memorize 
increases. But there are two factors in mechanical learn- 
ing : the first is the act of learning or memorizing ; the 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 205 

second is the retention and application of that which is 
learned. All the experimental evidence collected by 
Meumann points to the fact that those subjects which 
must be retained throughout life and which form the 
constant basis of all mental activities should be learned 
early, for retention is best at this time. The experiments 
of Penschew, Radossaljewitch, the Paris Commission, 
and Meumann, all coincide upon this point. ^ Children 
retain better than adults. This idea is also in conform- 
ity with the law of Jost, which is, that of two associations 
equal in, all other respects the older is remembered best. 
In accordance with this law, then, one who has learned 
the multiplication tables at the age of seven will retain 
them better, all other factors being equal, than one who 
learned them at the age of ten or twelve. Likewise a 
foreign language, although learned more quickly by the 
adult, is mastered better and may be applied to a greater 
extent by one who learns it as a child. The multiplica- 
tion tables, addition, division, and subtraction, correct 
usage, pronunciation, and punctuation in English, one 
foreign language if any is to be learned, spelling, and the 
bodily habits connected with writing should be stressed 
in the lower grades. 

The question of health and spontaneity has been raised 
in this connection. A number of our leading educators 
have, with good grounds, urged that little children should 
not be subjected to the strenuous methods which were so 
commonly used in learning mechanical facts a decade ago. 
1 Meumann's Vorlesungen. Englemann (publisher), Leipzig. 



206 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Long periods of drill during which undivided attention 
was demanded, the old disciplinary methods which re- 
quired children to sit still and in specifically designated 
positions, and lack of reaction by teachers to the spon- 
taneous manifestations of the children, all resulting in 
injury to bodily health, overstrain of the sense organs, 
and the stagnation of the imagination and emotions, 
are common features of the school which teaches mechan- 
ical facts regardless of everything else. It would be bet- 
ter for the children and for the state to close our schools 
than to teach in such a fashion ; and when we emphasize 
the necessity of acquiring the useful mechanics of the com- 
mon branches early in life^ we must not in any way allow 
the teaching of these mechanics to run counter to any of 
the other vital principles of selection and emphasis. By 
making the principle of function come first, and by in- 
cluding as the most vital element of this principle the 
fostering of mental and physical health, the danger of 
physical injury is eliminated before the question of teach- 
ing the mechanics arises. If learning them is a physical 
detriment to the children, mechanics should be discarded. 
However, all the objectionable factors respecting the 
learning of mechanical facts in the first two grades or in 
any of the grades, for that matter, can be reduced to two : 
(l) overstrain due to periods of work which are too long 
or too strenuous requirements, and (2) bad methods which 
tend to make too much of the mechanical, and do not 
allow freedom for the unfolding of the child's nature in 
its rational development. An illustration of reading, 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 207 

writing, spelling, and arithmetic being taught in the first 
grade with large results and without any of these ob- 
jectionable features is found in the Francis W. Parker 
School. Here the work is related to the interests of the 
children and is not allowed to interfere in any way with 
their spontaneity or health. In the Horace Mann School, 
reading, spelling, and writing (or printing) were for several 
years made a part of the work of the kindergarten.^ Good 
results were obtained without any objectionable methods 
being used. 

2. Abstract association must not be expected in the 
lower grades ; it is only beginning to develop when the 
child leaves the elementary school. Following this 
principle we must strive to make our methods and mate- 
rials as concrete as possible. The child in the elemen- 
tary school is a realist. He must see, touch, and hear 
the real materials concerning which he is taught. He 
must do more as well as talk more. 

In accordance with this idea the school is turning more 
to life illustrations, museums, and laboratory methods in 
its instruction. Books are not being discarded, and prob- 
ably more is gained from their use than ever before, 
because of a better understanding of their real values ; 
however, they are not allowed to take up as much time as 
they once did, and memorizing their contents in the old 
mechanical way is not considered worth while any more. 
To-day the child is taught to read a book in order to find 
information about something which he is studying in a 
1 Teachers College Record, Sept. 1916, pp. 330-343. 



208 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

concrete way, and what he finds there is not to be con- 
sidered the end of his lesson. The great out-of-doors; 
manufacturing estabhshments, social life and institu- 
tions, concrete objects, specimens, and books make up 
the modern text. 

3. The child must be regarded as a growing organism. 
Therefore, the results of his work must be judged from 
the standpoint of his development and not in a commer- 
cial or business sense. If a growing child make$ a mis- 
take, we must regard his mistake as an indication of his 
immaturity or of unsatisfactory methods which were em- 
ployed in his teaching. In no case is he to be personally 
judged upon the basis of his instability. It was once 
the custom to place the burden of responsibility upon 
the child. Now, although children are not condoned for 
making mistakes or for wrong actions, the burden of 
responsibility is placed where it rightfully belongs, upon 
the shoulders of parents and teachers. 

For example, it was once the custom to assign hard 
tasks and fail all those who could not accomplish them, 
schools being judged as efficient if they were able to make 
the requirements so difficult that a large number of chil- 
dren failed. To-day we are standardizing our require- 
ments and are measuring results by judging the teacher's 
efficiency in bringing a class up to the best modern stand- 
ards. It is usually an indication of poor teaching or im- 
possible requirements (which are as injurious to children 
as are tasks that are too easy for them), if a large number 
in a class is failed. " Mortality like gout," said McAn- 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 209 

drew, '^ is a fashionable disease." But the school world 
is making progress in dealing with this, its ancient ail- 
ment, and in some places we are already seeing an aver- 
age acceleration rather than the old fifty per cent retard- 
ation. In large cities where educational machinery has 
been a difficult problem, and in places where educational 
progress has been slow, retardation is still large ; but in 
the next few years this problem is going to be attacked 
and solved. 

The fluctuation found in a child's learning any new 
skill is an important factor here. In general it may be 
said that the younger the child the greater will be the 
fluctuations in his advancement. Teachers have not 
understood the significance of this fact. They have 
expected constant progress. Those who have been 
measuring education have failed to consider unexplain- 
able fluctuations as much as they should. The child 
learns by spurts. His ability advances and recedes. To- 
day he may do well and to-morrow, without any appar- 
ent reason, he may fall far below this attainment. When 
we know more about these fluctuations, we will be able 
to deal in a better way with them, but at present we can 
at least recognize their existence and not expect con- 
tinuous advancement. The failure of pupils to live up 
to expectations at critical moments has been a source of 
great discouragement to teachers. In the light of the 
facts both teachers and supervisors must learn not to 
judge recitations or the development of children by 
single observations. 



210 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

It is impossible in this volume to consider in detail all 
the many phases of selection and methods of teaching 
school subjects in accordance with child development; 
the three elements of this principle which have been con- 
sidered here have been preferred on account of the larger 
attention they are receiving in leading schools. 

The Selection and Emphasis of Subject Matter in 
Accordance with the Difficulties Which Are Encountered 
in Learning It. A great deal of tinie has been wasted by 
teaching subjects and parts of subjects that are difficult 
at the same level with material which is easily learned. 
The critical features of a subject must be discovered and 
stressed. The parts that are easily learned, or that 
may be mastered through association without being 
brought into the classroom, should be known by the 
teacher and taught accordingly. Thus, there are two 
elements to this principle of selection. 

1. The selection of facts and processes which the chil- 
dren need to know and which are especially difficult to 
master. These must be placed before the child at the 
moment his mental growth has reached the place where 
he can study them to advantage. They should be 
stressed and associated with his life activities in every pos- 
sible manner, and they should be reviewed and selected 
for special emphasis as often as it is profitable to do this. 

When the most difficult of the useful subject matter 
is not stressed in this way, we leave the education of the 
child who is finishing elementary school in a very chaotic 
state. When he should have been overcoming the 



SELECTION AND EMPHASIS 211 

critical difficulties of the common branches, we have al- 
lowed him to drift over the hard places and leave them 
behind him. His life, which becomes more complex 
after the elementary school period, does not allow him 
opportunity to overcome the weak places that the school 
has left in his mental make-up. He is left in a difficult 
position. Many adults testify that they would have 
profited vastly had they mastered in the elementary school 
such accomplishments as accuracy in the fundamentals of 
arithmetic, the habitual use of correct English, the 
ability to express themselves in writing, the ability to 
stand on their feet and say what they wish, and a hun- 
dred other features of adult life which can be developed 
in childhood if the critical difficulties are analyzed and 
overcome. 

2. The avoidance of overl earning, of teaching the 
child what he already knows, and of allowing the work of 
the school to become too easy, is managed by constantly 
eliminating from class discussions subjects and materials 
which do not need stressing. This element of principle 
three is important from the . standpoint of economy of 
time. When we spend school hours having the child spell 
words which he already knows, practice writing when he 
has already attained satisfactory speed and legibility, 
work at addition when his speed and accuracy are good 
enough, and perform like tasks, we are wasting his time. 

It is disintegrating to their characters for children to 
work constantly with materials which are too easy for 
them. They come to school eager and willing to learn, 



212 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

but if they do not need to make any effort to master the 
subject matter assigned to them, they soon lose all in- 
terest in hard work. The laziness and inability of chil- 
dren in upper grades is often due to teaching methods 
used in lower grades. They have been taught to avoid 
work and are not to be blamed for their condition. 

The application of these principles will be considered in 
relation to several school subjects in the chapters which 
follow. 



CHAPTER X 
SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 

The Function of English. English, being the mother 
tongue, is one of the most valuable subjects in the cur- 
riculum. It should be made a central feature of the ele- 
mentary school for it is essential from economic, so- 
cial, and cultural standpoints. The realization of these 
values, however, depends upon what is taught in the 
subject called English. It is possible for children to be 
taught so as to reach a high state of perfection in the use 
of English before they leave the elementary school. It 
is also possible to teach the subject without any improve- 
ment resulting in reading, writing, or speaking. It 
must be kept in mind that English is taught in order to 
teach children to speak, write, and read fluently, accu- 
rately, and correctly, and to enjoy and appreciate 
good literature. There is no other reason for the exist- 
ence of this subject as a part of the elementary school 
curriculum. 

Oral Expression. The most important function of 
English is the development of the ability to speak. In 
a recent address President Benjamin Ide Wheeler of the 
University of California said, ^^ The greatest possession 
a boy or girl can have is the English language ; to be 

213 



214 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

able to stand on his own two legs and say things." This 
expresses the consensus of advanced educational thought 
as regards the value of the abihty to speak compared with 
other values in English. 

From the day he enters school the child should be 
taught to speak both fluently and effectively. Not a 
week should pass without each child being given oppor- 
tunity to make an extended recitation in which he must 
organize his thoughts and express them to his fellows. 
Constant practice accompanied by constructive criticism 
is necessary to develop the power to speak. In schools 
where oral English has been stressed from the beginning, 
eighth-grade graduates often excel in quality and effec- 
tiveness of speech college seniors who have not had this 
early training. 

This is not an overstatement of the case. For several 
years I have given the same tests both in speaking and 
writing to college seniors, and to eighth-grade children 
who have had oral English training Not considering in- 
dividual exceptions, the eighth grade usually excelled the 
seniors. This was due, no doubt, to the difference in 
training. Those who are in college now grew up for the 
most part in schools which taught English '' to train the 
mind," or for some other general reason just as indefinite. 
The ability to speak received practically no training and, 
of course, was not developed. The ineffectiveness of 
courses in English as they were maintained a few years 
ago, and as they are found in many places even to-day, 
may be witnessed by observation of a few high-school 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 215 

or college recitations. Students who have had eight or 
ten years of the old style English or " grammar for its 
own sake " either plead inability to tell what they know 
or appear most pitiful in their bungling attempts to ex- 
press themselves. Full-grown college seniors will stand 
on one leg with face averted or turned to the floor and 
mumble recitations which cannot be understood three 
paces away. Often they succeed in giving only a small 
fraction of what they would like to say and in leaving, per- 
haps, an impression just the opposite of the one intended. 

There is only one method of overcoming this difficulty. 
We must begin as early as possible and train constantly 
in speaking. Heredity is a factor in the backwardness 
of many, but it is by no means to blame for the situ- 
ation described above. It has been found that most dif- 
ficulties in oral expression are readily eliminated by prac- 
tice. Not only must every lesson in all subjects be an 
English lesson, but we must also have a daily period 
affording opportunity for practice and for constructive 
criticism of the effort. 

Written English. The necessity for being able to write 
effectively is met with in all vocations — in some, of 
course, m.ore than in others — in social life, and in the 
cultural aspects of living. Its importance is second 
only to the ability to speak. Comparisons between 
modern elementary schools which stress the functional 
elements of English and schools of the old type which 
teach English with no specific purposes reveal the ad- 
vantage of emphasizing fluent, accurate, and effective 



216 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

writing. This function may be developed by constant 
practice under constructive criticism, and the earUer, 
within reasonable limits, that it is begun the better. 
In the Francis Parker School the children in the first 
grade express themselves in writing and make diction- 
aries of the words whose use they are to master. By the 
time these same children finish the eighth grade, their 
ability to express themselves in writing has been de- 
veloped to a state surprising to those who have not 
witnessed the written work of elementary grades in a 
school of this type. 

Reading and the Study of Literature. The ability to 
read and interpret the printed page is essential to progress 
in most vocations. It is also necessary in order to learn 
of social developments that one may become a better 
social being ; and it has great culture-recreational value. 
However, if we teach literature and reading from this 
standpoint, our methods and the subject matter stressed 
must be quite different from the methods and subject 
matter of the traditional school. The following factors 
are being made the central features of courses in modern 
schools : 

1. Silent reading is more important than oral reading. 
The ability to read orally in such a way as to entertain 
others is of very little use to the average person. Only 
the few who become entertainers will need such an ability 
to a very great extent. Silent reading, that which in- 
terprets the printed page, is the reading which must be 
stressed. Too much emphasis has been placed upon the 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 217 

ability to read with good expression; not enough atten- 
tion has been given to the development of the ability 
to ^' tear the heart out of a book/' to know what to re- 
member and what to neglect, and to supplement problems 
and projects by covering a large amount of literature 
rather than by memorizing the statements of a text. 

2. Literature studied from the cultural standpoint 
must be so taught that it will function in the direction 
intended. Too often when a book is studied in school 
the work is associated in the child's mind with pain and 
drudgery, and after he has finished it, he never volun- 
tarily refers to it again. He is usually through with the 
author forever. Wide acquaintance with good books, 
the fostering of the reading habit, and the selection of high 
class material which appeals to children are three vital 
factors in teaching literature. 

Illustrations of Functional English. In developing the 
above abilities the topics below should be stressed. It is 
easier for the teacher when these are made the essential 
features in his course of study, but with any course to 
cover it is possible to place more stress upon the im- 
portant elements. 

Daily practice in speaking by every child, when possible. 

Written work at least once per week by every child. 

The reading of a few good books in every grade, a partial 
reading of a large number of others, and the fostering and 
stimulation of the reading habit. 

Grammar and the mechanical features of speaking, writing, 
and reading to the extent that they are helpful in a functional 



218 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

way. There have been many so called functional outlines 
of grammar facts. The one which follows was made by Miss 
Amy Foote, training teacher in the State Teachers College, 
Greeley, Colorado. It is given in full here on account of the 
remarkable success of Miss Foote's work in developing power in 
children to speak, write, and read effectively. 

The Study of Grammar 

Sentence Used as a Basis of Study 

1. Sentence as a whole clearly vocalized. 

(a) Subject clearly vocalized. 

(6) Predicate clearly vocalized. 

(c) Kinds of Sentences as to meaning. 

2. Sentence types. 

(a) Simple : 

The function of this sentence is to express 
with utmost clearness a single idea — to give emphasis. 

(b) Compound : 

The function of this sentence is to express 
an idea which contains two or more equally important notions. 

(c) Complex : 

The function of this sentence is to express 
the central idea in the independent clause, but at the same 
time to modify the chief idea with clearness and correctness. 
In this connection, a comparative study as to the most effective 
use of the three types of sentences as to structure and use should 
be made — each word, phrase, or clause should be placed in 
the sentence where it stands for the most in making the sen- 
tence correct, clear, and elegant ; no needless word or words 
should be used ; no necessary word or words should be omitted ; 
and great care should be exercised in selecting the choicest 
words. 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 219 

. Modifiers. 

(a) Subject : 

(1) Word, 

(2) Phrase, 

(3) Clause, 
(6) Predicate : 

(1) Word, 

(2) Phrase, 

(3) Clause, 



Function. Must be known for 
agreement, proper emphasis, 
punctuation, etc. 



In this connection, modifiers should be considered a 
means of expansion of thought, hence the child should become 
conscious of the relative emphasis each group affords. One 
can now see how the parts of speech become at once needful 
and alive instead of isolated, disjointed scraps of facts : they 
are truly tools or so much timber with which the child builds up 
his house of speech. We need to know the names of our vari- 
ous tools only as we come gradually to need them as we pro- 
gress from our homesteader's one-room, subject-and-predicate 
house, as ''Snow falls," to our last and great house, the com- 
plex sentence. 

4. Parts of Speech — with onl}" such divisions as are of 
practical, everyday value. 
(a) Noun : 

(1) Kinds. 

Proper — for capitalization. 
Common — for comparative study. 

(2) Form. 

Possessive — especially emphasized. 
(6) Pronoun : 

(1) Kinds. 

Personal — for agreement. 
Relative — for agreement. 



220 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

(2) Properties. 

Case — for correct form. 

Person forms — especially emphasized. 

(c) Adjective. 

(1) Kinds. 

Proper — for capitalization. 
Common — for comparative study. 

(2) Properties. 

Comparison — for correct forms. 

(d) Verb. 

(1) Kinds according to use. 

Transitive — lay, set, etc. 
Intransitive — lie, sit, etc. 
Copulative — followed by nominative. 

(2) According to form. 

Regular, or weak. 
Irregular, or strong. 
Study the Principal Parts of the Verb, selecting 40 of the 
most commonly misused to drill upon. 

(3) Tenses. 

Present — Present Perfect. 1 For cor- 
Past — Past Perfect. J rect forms. 

Future. 
Special emphasis should be placed upon the agreement 
of the verb and its subject in number and person. 

(e) Adverb. 

(1) Properties. 

Comparison especially emphasized. 
('/) Preposition. 

(1) Its object, e.g., ''between him and 
(J) me," etc. 

(g) Conjunction. 
(1) Kinds. 

Coordinating; subordinating. 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 221 

Used as tools in compound and com- 
plex sentences and of use to the child only in helping to show 
the relationship of one part of the sentence to another. 
(h) Interjection. 

(1) Function — Emphasis and surprise. 
Punctuation introduced early in this study with the 
sentence as to meaning, and carried on throughout study. 

Seeing all elements with which the class is capable of deahng, 
in relation to the entire sentence, results in completeness of 
syntax ; viewing each part in relation to what it enables one 
to do in expressing thought results in clear-cut structure, hence 
improvement of speech, clearness of expression. 

5. Composition — development of paragraph sense. 
(a) Oral. 
(6) Written. 

Much attention to organization — rela- 
tive values and initiative by children. 

(1) Original. 

(2) Reproduction. 

(c) Paragraph Structure and Content. 

(1) Indentation. 

(2) Margin. 

(3) Topic Sentence (subject sentence). 

(4) Developing Sentences (predicate sentence). 

(5) Rounding out sentence. 

(d) Subject Matter. 

(1) Personal Interests — persons, places, 
things. 

(2) Narration and description. 

(3) Letter writing. 

(a) Social notes — invitations, etc. 

(6) Social letters. 

(c) Business letters — telegrams, ad- 
vertisements, etc. 



222 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

(d) Form. 

(1) Salutation. 

(2) Complimentary close. 

(3) Place of date, address. 

(e) Envelope. 

(1) Placing of address. 

(2) Spacing of address. 
6. Study of literature and reading. 

(a) Long stories. 
(5) Structure. 

(1) Narrative steps ^ A feeling for structure 
— growth of plot — to be read rapidly. 

(a) For thought and picture of times. 
(h) Oral interpretation. 

(c) Short story or '^ cuttings." 

(1) Oral interpretation. 

(2) Character study. 

(3) Humor of theme, etc. 

(4) Narrative structures. 

(d) Dramatization (discussed in detail in a former 
chapter). 

(e) Poems. 

(1) Music. 

(2) Pictures. 

(3) Power to inspire. 

(4) Feeling for structure. 

7. Most valuable and economic use of textbook should 
be emphasized. 

Selection in English Based upon Growth of Children 

Many Difficulties Overcome by Growth. There are, 
no doubt, special psychological stages in the child's de- 
velopment at which times it would be best to teach def- 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 223 

inite groups of facts, but individual differences are so 
large and experimental data are so difficult to obtain that 
general rules are hard to formulate and even more dif- 
ficult to apply in teaching. The best rule to use, after 
a decision has been made regarding the functional ele- 
ments, is to expose the children to such groups of facts 
as soon as they are able to comprehend their significance. 
Then review them in all possible relations as often as 
profitable results seem to follow. Many difficulties in- 
curred in the lower grades will be overcome as the chil- 
dren advance. A large number of mistakes will be 
automatically eliminated by explanations which can only 
be understood in the upper grades where opportunity is 
allowed the children to apply the grammar they learn. 
Agreement, tense forms, use of comma, transitive and 
intransitive verbs {lay, lie, etc.), and other topics must 
be taught when special instances involving them occur in 
the lower grades. Correct and effective usage should 
be mechanized as a matter of habit, if possible, before 
the use of incorrect forms becomes habitual. 

Mechanics in Lower Grades and Rational Relations 
in Upper Grades. Everything which is a matter of 
mechanical memory should be mastered as early in the 
curriculum as possible without running counter to any 
of the other important factors in the child's development. 
When children come from good homes and do not associ- 
ate with companions who use inferior English, it is pos- 
sible to develop good habits of speaking and writing 
without teaching grammar. But every child is sure 



224 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

sooner or later to come in contact with incorrect usage 
and should be taught those facts of grammar which will 
make it possible for him to discover correct and effective 
forms for himself when he is in doubt. If we make this 
aim the basis of our English work, it will be necessary 
constantly to connect every lesson in grammar with the 
writing and speech of the children. Special emphasis 
will have to be placed upon the use to him of every fact 
in grammar that he learns. In examining and testing 
we must base our records upon an understanding by the 
child of this use as well as upon a knowledge of the facts 
and processes. 

Illustrative Course of Study in English Based upon 
Function and upon Growth of Children. Experience in a 
number of schools has proved that the course which fol- 
lows may be taught with success in the grades suggested : 

The work in the lower grades may seem too difficult, but 
if taught informally and made an outgrowth of the lives of 
the children good results may be obtained in all the three 
functions of English. 

Grade 1 

Oral English : Constant practice in listening to and telling 
stories, telling experiences, and reciting lessons. Direct state- 
ments, clear enunciation, and telling language should be en- 
couraged and stimulated. 

Written English : A fair grasp of the simple sentence prop- 
erly punctuated and capitalized. The writing of records, 
letters, and stories. (Writing may be objected to in first- 
grade work, but children are very anxious to write here, and 
they should be allowed to write in the simplest way. Formal 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 225 

requirements should not be made in this work, but it should 
grow out of the interests of the children. An example of such 
work as done in the Horace Mann School is described in the 
Teachers College Report, September 1916, pp. 330 to 343. A 
description of work of this kind will be found in the catalogue 
of the Francis Parker School.) Instruction in the use of capitals 
for the daj^s of the week, months, proper nouns (taught as 
special instances, of course), and the pronoun I. The use of 
the period and the question mark. The use of the larger 
muscles and materials stressed. Lists of words written and 
bound into booklets by the children. 

Literature and reading. Ability to use phonics as an aid 
in pronunciation should be developed. A reading vocabulary 
of from 250 to 400 words may be acquired in this grade by 
the average child. Acquaintance with a large number of 
good stories, and the reading of a number of primers and one 
or two first readers should be a central feature of the work. 
Reading is learned through wide association rather than by 
memorizing the selections of one or two books. Poetry and 
prose selections which are interesting to the children should be 
memorized. A great deal of dramatizing should be done. 

Grade 2. (Review and reestablish all the results of the 

preceding work.) 

Oral English: RetelHng stories, telhng short stories for 
the first time, some practice at planning short oral composi- 
tions; insistence upon clear seeing and thinking as a part of 
telling. Refining and improving oral English stressed in this 
grade. Here the children may be taught to desire correct 
usage, and this desire is likely to be retained. If it is not 
formed in the two lower grades it may be impossible to establish 
until after graduation from high school. At this age children 
respond to arbitrary assurance that certain language forms 

Q 



226 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

should be used because they are right. Later they drift 
along by using any language they find satisfactory in obtaining 
what they want. The overcoming of habitual usage becomes 
a harder problem each succeeding year. 

Written English : Papers written on anything of interest 
in any of the school work or on outside interests. One at 
least each week, its length depending upon the individual 
child's abilities. Stress sentence structure, and proper punc- 
tuation (all simple sentences). Teacher and children plan 
compositions together. Correct use of capitals made habitual ; 
the comma introduced, abbreviatioris such as Mr., Mrs., 
and initials of personal names taught. A writing vocabulary 
from 300 to 500 words may be established in this grade. 

Literature and reading : Study in silent reading by telling 
what is found on the different pages before a story or selection 
is read orally; reading books to find special information de- 
manded in projects and problems ; reading and dramatizing 
selections from first and second reader; wide acquaintance 
and pleasant association with the thought to be stressed rather 
than the ability mechanically to interpret a few selections. 
The ability to use phonics in the interpretation of words would 
be perfected in this grade. The ability to read well is not 
being stressed so much for the first two grades as it formerly 
was. Reading is one of the most unhygienic subjects on ac- 
count of the eyestrain necessitated. Two ten or fifteen-minute 
periods a day suffice. This is one of the subjects in which 
growth is a large factor. Small children have been forced to 
undergo nervous and physical strain in learning to read in the 
first two grades selections which natural growth would have 
overcome and the strain avoided. Backwardness in oral 
reading need have nothing to do with a child's advancement. 
He may never need this ability. The non-necessity for glib 
oral inter 'pr elation cannot he stressed too much. It is hard for 
the small-town principal or superintendent to get away from 



' SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 227 

the fact that the children need not be able to do good oral read- 
ing for him when he visits a first-, second-grade or third-grade 
room. The more hygienic purely memory subjects are tak- 
ing the place of the large amount of reading once taught in the 
first two grades. 

Grade 3. (Review to reestablish abilities already acquired.) 

Oral English : Story telling ; dramatizing stories ; increased 
development of language consciousness. Story telling used 
by children in connection with all content subjects such as 
literature, history, geography, and nature study. Stress 
ability to speak correctly and effectively on every possible 
occasion. 

Written English : The beginning of a feeling for paragraphs 
and divisions of thought ; capitals in the cases of first word 
in a line of poetry, first word in a direct quotation when it 
begins a sentence, the interjection ; more association with 
the use of the comma; habitually correct use of the period 
and question mark ; some knowledge of quotation marks and 
the exclamation point. Stories told them by the teacher are 
written by the children. At least once, each week the teacher 
and the class write on the board a story that they all know. ' 
They try to tell it in their own words in the best possible way. 
The members of the class discuss the paragraphing and the 
words used while the teacher writes. 

Grammar facts which must be made to function in the oral 
and written work of the children as they are taught : Atten- 
tion of children called to dependent clauses and the abiUty 
to recognize them developed ; a functional method of illustrat- 
ing these clauses is to call attention to them when they precede 
the main clause. A use of the comma is thus learned. Some 
knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and subject and predi- 
cate may be acquired in this grade. There is nothing rational 
about these elements of grammar, and they are learned more 



228 MODKRN KLEMENTAUY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

readily if introdu(;o(l in i\\v, third j!;nid(', than if left until the 
iip[)fT ^rad(!S. 

Literature and readinj^: A variety of reading used to de- 
v(;lop facility in interpretation and a taste for good literature ; 
dramatizing nrid ncting stories with more; specific attention 
by th(; children t^o costuming, stage setting, and the language 
used; reading orally and nuMnorizing many selc^ctions of good 
poetry. Aft,(!r bcutoming int,er(!st,{!(l in a reader the child 
should be encouraged to tak(; it horm; and finish it. 

Grade 4. (Review to nsestabUsh abiliti(;s already acquired.) 

Oral English : From the fourth through the eighth grades 
morning (!X(!r(;ises should be a (constant motive for the prepara- 
tion by a child or a grouf) of children of som(;thing sf)e(;ial, either 
a rec;itation in a n^gular sul^ject, a play, or a dialogue. The work 
is crit icizcd by the class and the teacher from the standpoint of 
effectiveness, beauty, and clearness. Ability to use effective 
L'nglish dev(;l()p(Hl V)y stressing its use on every occasion. 

Written I<]nglish : More attention to clearness and beauty 
of style ; ability to think in paragrai)hs dev(;loped further ; 
punctuation l)y use of period, qiu^stion mark, exclamation 
point, comma; capitalization continued. Short papers written, 
for use in i(H;itations. Some writt,en work at least once each 
week should be done ; dictation by the teaciher of paragrai)hs 
designed to bring into f)lay tlu; me(!hani(;al a})ilitj{;s which 
the children are developing. 

Grammar facts, which must b(^ inad(; t,o function in the 
oral and written woik of ihv, children as they are taught; 
continuation of subject .'ind predicate, dependent clauses, 
nouns, verbs, and adjectives; introduction of adverb. 

lie.'iding and literature^ : Wide (exposure to good litc^rature. 
Silent i(niding and ability t-o pick out, the most important parts 
of texts and n^ference 'oooks in geography, nature study, etc., 
stressed; study for aM)reciation. 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 229 

Vovii Ui'iM'Mt GiiADEH. (Roviow essontiiil and difTicult ele- 
ments constantly.) 

Vov llie four lower grades six'cific, tn^atment was furnished 
for each p;rad(; Ixu^ause it is in the first four ^ra(l(;s that we 
usu.'illy rnak(^ the mistaken of doinp; litllc; or nothing; besides 
developing; th(^ nhihty to r(;ad orally. In \,\\v. fifth, sixth, 
s(;v(!nth, and ei^lith g;rad(;s, the funei.ional ]*jng;Hsh as outlin(;d 
ill the fiist i)Mrt of lliis (;hapt(;r should be presented, as uui(;h 
as possible beiii^ mastered in each ^r.'ule, with (constant n;- 
vi(.'ws. lU)U)Vv th(; (;hiid (inislies i\w. eighth g;r.'ul(! he should 
be abl(! to sf)eak, write, and read (hiently and (^fhuitively. 

The Seleclion for Stress of the. Most Difficult Features of English 

Studies of Children's Mistakes. There h.ive been 
([uite a number- of stiubes oFornl nud wiMtten mistakes of 
chihbcn. These have been i.'ibul.'ited .'iiid (jornpared 
vvitli the result tha,t we now lia^ve a list of (lidi(;ult featun'S 
which is fairly r(^prescntativ(\ Studies have been made 
in the eh'Hientary schools of ( 'inc-inn.'Ui, Kansas (vity, 
Boise (Idafio)^ and in a nuird)er of other plnces. (Jhart- 
eis ' h.'is n^cently reviewed all 1, hose studies, and has made 
ii (course of study for Kansas ( ^ity ba.se(| ii|)on his findings. 
In selecting; for empliasis special diflicultic^s in 10ng;lish it is 
always better to nuike a st^udy of tlie hx^al (tommunity 
and l)as(^ t^he work in P^nglish upon tJi(^ discoveries. 
Teachers and i)Upils will both attack sucth a course witli 
g;reater zc^st, for tliey know thnt, ihry are working; U{)on 
their own ])roblems. I^]n,i;iisli diirKmlties nre often du(^ 
to the coll()(|uinl iri'eg^ul.'irit ies of the l,'ing;uag(^ of the 

' lOtli Year liook of the Society for tlio Sficiil,ili(^ Study of Edu- 
cutioii, 1017. 



230 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

community. Thus, a course designed to overcome these 
is likely to be quite effective. 

Majority of Inadequate and Ungrammatical Expres- 
sions Due to the Repetition of a Few Common Errors. 

In studies of children's errors it has been found that the 
majority of mistakes was due to the constant repetition 
of a few common errors. The large functional elements 
which seem to cause trouble are : 

1. Self-consciousness. This is the arch enemy of all 
beginners in learning to speak and write effectively. It 
may be overcome by a wise use of sympathy and en- 
couragement on the part of the teacher. It is difficult 
for a child to overcome mistakes and at the same time 
not hinder expression by becoming self-conscious. A 
great deal of practice will assist in dealing with this 
trouble. We must constantly keep before the teacher 
the fact that he must encourage expression and develop 
fluency before he can cure any of the child's language 
ills. The school has too often in the past served to dry 
up the source of expression. Children get the idea that 
it is better to say nothing than to make a mistake^ and, 
following their idea to its logical conclusion, they learn 
to say nothing. When they leave school, they find that 
they cannot express themselves as well as those who 
have never gone to school. This situation is very 
noticeable when we apply the same idea to the teaching 
of foreign languages. After taking French, for from three 
to six years, university and college graduates usually 
go out without the ability to speak the language. They 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 231 

were taught to have so much respect for exactness and 
so httle stress was placed upon fluency that they mas- 
tered the former but were not able to say anything upon 
which they could use their ideas of exactness. Hap- 
pily this situation in the teaching of foreign language is 
being rapidly overcome. In a few years teaching which 
does not enable those who study a language to speak it 
will not be tolerated. Exactness and correctness are 
very worth while, but they have no place unless at the 
same time fluency is developed. 

2. The second large difficulty met with in developing 
the ability to speak and write fluently, effectively, and 
correctly is subject matter. Children and adults com- 
plain constantly that they have nothing to say. They 
are not conscious of the great world of action, life, death, 
struggle, pain, and joy which greets them at every step and 
waits to be interpreted. The same difficulty is probably 
at the foundation of both 1 and 2 : lack of fluency. 

Children and adults must be taught to see, hear, and 
feel the elements of the great world by which they are 
surrounded. Then they must practice telling and writ- 
ing them. Like the artist who paints the commonplace 
but by bringing a certain element of it into the foreground 
shows its true value, the person who speaks and writes 
must be able to express the subtle features of life and 
the world to his fellows. One who has developed this 
ability will find it valuable to him in gaining friends, in 
living a truer and larger social life, in following his voca- 
tion, no matter what it may be, and in enjoying life in 



232 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

any locality. Yet with all of these values ability in 
English expression is one of the hardest to develop, 
and must be constantly before the teacher and the class. 
We must learn to find subjects. Children must learn that 
thousands of them are everywhere they go ; they must 
learn to recognize and develop them. Live language 
teachers are stressing this feature of English and are 
realizing that it is one of the central problems. The 
ability to use correct mechanical English is not to be 
compared with it, either in functional value or in diffi- 
culty of attainment. 

3. The ability to organize what is to be said or writ- 
ten is a third vital accomplishment difficult to develop. 
After fluency is assured, organization must be made a 
constant part of English instruction. Children and 
adults have great difficulty in collecting their scat- 
tered thoughts and in joining them together in speech or 
in writing. The ability to organize the various thought 
elements pertaining to a subject so that proper emphasis 
will be given to each element, so that sufficient repetition 
is given every important thought, and so that all will be 
said that should be said, and said when it should be said 
without unnecessary statements, is difficult to develop. 
Some teachers contend that children in the grades are 
not mature enough to be instructed in this feature of 
speaking and writing. It must be understood that such 
work will have to be given to children on their level of 
comprehension. When it is so given, grade school chil- 
dren respond even more readily than college and uni- 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 233 

versity students who have not been taught to organize in 
the grades or in high school. 

Constant Stress of the Three Foregoing Elements of 
Speech and Writing. These three features of speaking 
and writing must be back of all work in English in the 
elementary school, the high school, and the university. 
They are the fundamentals of English. They develop 
fluency and effectiveness They are the most difficult 
features to teach. Therefore, they should be stressed 
whenever and wherever possible. Teachers in the past 
allowed these fundamentals to be crowded out of the 
course of study by the mechanics of English, or even 
worse, by such word juggling as is involved in diagram- 
ing, analyzing, and parsing. Whatever we do from the 
mechanical standpoint, and useful mechanics are very 
essential, we mmst not neglect the larger and more 
fundamental functions. 

Special Difficulties. The mechanical difficulties which 
have been found to cause the most trouble are given here 
in the order of their difficulty. Only the useful mechanics 
are included. They should be introduced early in the 
elementary school course and repeated as often as profit- 
able or until mastered. Special attention should be given 
children who master them through individual efforts. 
Every child should know that he has conquered an 
enemy worthy of his efforts when he has overcome one of 
these difficulties. From the ten or twelve studies pre- 
viously referred to and with three years' comparative 
observation of eighth-grade and college students as an 



234 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

aid^ the following have been selected as the mechanical 
^^ demons " of English. 

List of difficult English usages in order of difficulty : 

1. Verbs: (a) Transitive or intransitive — lay, lie, sitj 
and set most often misused ; learn and teach important. 

(6) Copulative — to understand that a pronoun 
used in the predicate is nominative (It is I). 

(c) Tense — see, do, come, give greatest trouble ; 
go, run, ring, sing, drink, ask, give, write are among the most 
difficult. About fifty irregular verbs should be used in drill. 

{d) Correct use of may and can more difficult on 
account of greater necessity for use than shall and will. 

(e) Subjunctive mood — should be taught only 
in the specific cases where it gives trouble. Only the past 
and present of the verb to be are important. 

(/) Infinitive, to illustrate that modifier should 
not separate it. (Not, to quietly sit down, but, to sit down 
quietly.) 

{g) Number — disagreement with subject quite 
common. 

2. Syntactical redundance (use of superfluous forms 
and words as, where are you at, overuse of and, etc.) — very 
common error and constant drill and attention necessary to 
overcome it. 

3. Pronouns : (a) number : Everyone open his book (not, 
their books), etc. 

(5) Case : It was he, I saw him, etc. 

(c) Gender, especially for general use of he. 

4. Punctuation — (a) Comma in series, especially be- 
fore and. 

Following dependent clause, preceding main 
clause, other uses of comma. 

(6) Period, question mark, semicolon, and colon. 



SELECTION AND EVALUATION IN ENGLISH 235 

5. Nouns — (a) Capitalization of proper nouns. 

(6) Collective for verb agreement and agreement of 

modifiers. 

(c) Possessive case for correct written forms. 

6. Adjectives — (a) Comparison most important feature 
and demands a great deal of drill. 

(6) Capitalization of proper adjectives, 
(c) Not to be confused with personal pronouns 
and nouns (center for central, etc.). 

7. Adverbs — to prevent their use for adjectives and to 
prevent the use of adjective for adverbs (good for well most 
common). The comparison of adjectives has already been 
given as very important and the same may be said of the 
comparison of adverbs. 

8. Prepositions — followed by the obj ective case ; pronouns 
afford special difficulty. (He said it to John, Henry, and me.) 

9. Double negatives — important in oral usage but 
rarely mistaken in written work. 

10. In any analyzing, diagraming, or parsing, examples 
which bring out functional difficulties should always be used. 
Such sentences as the one given above, '' He said it to John, 
Henry, and me," should be used in this work. If this is 
done, drill is more likely to help usage, for it will throw the 
difficult elements of usage into the foreground. 

No Time for Technical Grammar. There is no place 
in the curriculum for grammar which has no definite 
bearing upon spoken or written usage. Technical gram- 
mar should not be taught in the elementary school. Its 
place should be taken by '' Functional English." It will 
take all the time we have to teach well that which is use- 
ful, and the mind will be developed just as well by work- 
ing hard upon useful English as upon useless word juggling. 



CHAPTER XI 

SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC, SPELLING, AND 

WRITING 

Arithmetic ■ 

Functional Values. Arithmetic is an important sub- 
ject but it has not always been taught in a way to bring 
out its values. Parts that are not important have often 
been stressed to the entire neglect of parts that are vital 
to social and economic needs. Those who have been 
trained in school arithmetic only cannot solve the prob- 
lems of life. This is not due to the fact that they have 
received too little training in the solution of problems^ 
but that the problems they solved were not the type 
which furnished exercise in the arithmetical knowledge 
that is useful in life. The following phases of arithmetic 
have been discovered by investigators to be processes 
which must be stressed in order to make this '^ practical " 
subject truly practical : 

1. Accurate and fairly rapid ability to add, divide, 
multiply, and subtract. The old school taught these 
fundamentals in a way that did not secure accuracy and 
speed in their use. In many places they were so taught 
that a child would have to begin at the beginning of a 
table or at the beginning of a song and repeat all that 

236 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 237 

came before the combination he wanted to use. Another 
faihng was that the multipHcation tables, long division, 
etc., were taught in specified grades and learned fairly 
well there, but they were rarely referred to again aside 
from chance use in percentage, interest, or mensura- 
tion. The modern way is to stress these fundamentals 
constantly, to require children to learn them not only in 
tables but each combination separately, and to insist 
upon accurate and fairly rapid solution of problems in- 
volving them. Throughout all the grades short drill 
periods in them should be given. 

2. Business transactions. Everyone must engage in 
business. If money is saved, it should be invested. We 
must all buy and sell. Almost everybody should keep 
accounts. Most men come in contact with mortgages, 
and many of them could have been saved a great deal 
of trouble by a small amount of vital instruction concern- 
ing them. Life insurance is a problem which everyone 
must face. If he is entirely ignorant of it, he is bound to 
be imposed upon by unscrupulous agents. In fact, our 
business and economic relations with other persons, 
especially in this growing commercial nation of ours, 
demand that we greatly increase the teaching of practical 
commercial mathematics, and that we decrease the old- 
fashioned formal exercise type of work in this important 
subject. The following topics are being called for by 
business men.^ 

1 16th Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific Study of 
Education. 



238 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Saving and loaning money. 

Mortgages. 

Modern banking methods. 

Building and loan associations. 

Keeping accounts. 

Investing money. 

Bonds as investments. 

Real estate as investment. 

Marks of a good investment. 

Taxes, levies, public expenditures. 

Profits in different lines of business. 

Life insurance as protection and investment. 

Partial payments (buying on installment plan). 

Any one of these topics is large enough to take up a 
school year, and the time is rapidly approaching when 
they will be closely studied in high schools in place of a 
great deal of the mathematics which is necessary only to 
such occupations as surveying and engineering, callings 
which are not likely to be engaged in by many. As stated, 
we must all engage in business, and the better we are 
equipped in the fundamentals of it, the more successful 
we will be in managing our own affairs. Wilson has 
stated that the American people lose over $60,000,000 
a year in bad investments. The enormous amount of 
pain and suffering which must follow the loss of small 
savings by those who have had no training in business 
and are ignorant of even the fundamental truths could 
be partially avoided by the proper teaching of these sub- 
jects in school. To teach them in a vital and functional 
way, however, will necessitate the reeducation of our 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 239 

teaching force. It is a sad truth, but teachers do not 
know the important simple facts about the above topics. 
It is the duty of every teacher to stress concrete business 
transactions as much as possible no matter what his 
course of study may call for. 

In teaching these subjects the ability to solve long 
and difficult problems is not so important as the under- 
standing of their application and the ability to solve 
the ordinary business problems of everyday life. A 
superintendent of one of our large cities gave an oppor- 
tunity to his son, who was in the fifth grade, to apply his 
mathematics to the purchase of his own shoes. It was 
agreed that the boy should have $14.00 per year (the 
amount he had asked for) to buy shoes. Although he 
was good in regular school arithmetic, his father noted 
that when he needed to solve the little problems con- 
nected with the purchase of shoe strings and the mending 
of shoes, he always went to his mother for help. A 
teacher can help the child in making this transition from 
school arithmetic to that of life by giving life problems 
along with those taken from the text. This has been dis- 
cussed in the chapter on " The Problem Method.'^ 

3. The ability to add, divide, multiply, and subtract 
common fractions. The common fractions are almost 
always small. Very little work should, be done with large 
fractions. 

4. An understanding of decimals. In English-speak- 
ing countries the use of decimals is almost entirely con- 
fined to transaction^ involving money. In connection 



240 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

with their work in decimals the children of the fifth and 
sixth grades should become thoroughly familiar with mak- 
ing change. To make change is a common necessity, 
and it is surprising how awkward and incapable even 
college students are in doing it. Somewhere in the 
grades a definite course involving practice with sterilized 
money should be given. Real money is better than a 
substitute. 

5. Mensuration. The ability to solve problems in- 
volving the common linear, square, and volume measures 
is quite useful. The long explanations and difficult prob- 
lems on spherical surfaces and volumes should be dis- 
carded. How to find the area of a circle should be the 
limit in circular mensuration. 

6. Simple tables of weights and measures and their 
use in problems. If the foregoing are taught well, no 
time will be left for non-functional work, such as long 
problems involving greatest common divisor, least com- 
mon multiple, long problems in large fractions, com- 
plex and compound fractions, cases in percentage (use 
equation method), cube root, etc. Long peculiar exam- 
ples of the puzzle type which do not develop accuracy or 
the ability to solve concrete problems should be omitted. 

The functional method stresses accuracy, a few prob- 
lems well solved, constant attention by the child to his 
own difficulties, and drill upon the special useful arithmetic 
features in which the children are lacking. Then, if 
time is left, it should be given to enlarging the work in 
business arithmetic as outlined under 2. 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 241 

The Disciplinary Value of Mathematics. Mathematics, 
more than any other subject, has been advocated for its 
disciphnary value. It is impossible to decide from ex- 
perimental evidence whether any subject wiU train gen- 
eral powers or develop abilities transferable to other 
subjects. In teaching from the functional standpoint 
we need not worry about securing disciphne, for if there 
is such a value in mathematics, it will be greater in the 
useful portions than in the useless. If we are able to 
train the power of sustained attention, the ability to 
think logically, etc., by requiring the child to solve use- 
less problems, we can, of course, achieve the same end in 
a better way by using only useful materials. Without 
doubt, methods which require concentration, initiative, 
and independence of children should be used. They 
should constantly solve problems which do not " come 
out even," and which have no ready-made answers to 
tell them whether the work is right. They should learn 
to rely upon themselves and to be fairly sure that they are 
correct in their practice problems ; otherwise they never 
can trust their calculations when they try to use their 
arithmetic in life. 

Selection of Arithmetic Based upon the Growth of 
Children. More of purely memory work than is or- 
dinarily done should be given in the two lower grades. 
In reacting from the overconfining methods of the tra- 
ditional school many teachers have almost entirely 
neglected arithmetic in the first and second grades. 
The result has been that in the third and fourth grades 



R 



242 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

children are so overburdened with drill that they learn 
to hate it. This difficulty is overcome by teaching the 
memory phases in an interesting way in the two lower 
grades. During the second year it is possible to teach 
in fifteen minutes a day all the addition combinations to 
twenty^ the multiplication tables, and subtraction. This 
would be too much to require since there are always a 
few children in each grade whose ability to memorize 
has not developed. Therefore, just how much shall be 
taught will depend upon the class. Too often the child's 
interest in learning useful arithmetical facts is not taken 
advantage of in the lower grades. He is given games to 
play until he gets into the third grade. Then, after 
being merely played with for two years, he is confronted 
with a heavy program. Children like to learn to add, 
multiply, and subtract in the first grade. Under wise 
teaching, they will be given enough such work to en- 
courage them. As explained in a previous chapter, there 
are many advantages in learning the useful fundamentals 
as early in the curriculum as possible. Little need be 
added to the discussion of this phase of selection of arith- 
metic. If the mechanics are mastered in the lower 
grades, plenty of time will be left for the development of 
the functional and logical applications in the upper 
grades. 

Selection of Especially Difficult Features of Arithmetic. 
The special difficulties in arithmetic have not been studied 
as much as have those in oral and written English. How- 
ever, they seem to exist, and by overcoming them the 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 243 

child is often able to master the subject in a way that 
would have been impossible under old-style general in- 
struction. A preliminary study of the phases of arith- 
metic which need special stress is given below : 

1. Accuracy. After constantly studying for a num- 
ber of years the causes of mistakes in the solution of 
problems by children, I have come to the conclusion 
that inaccuracy in the phases of the work which they 
are supposed to know is the great difficulty. They soon 
acquire methods of solution, and the ordinary teacher 
rarely fails to correct errors resulting from mistakes in 
reading problems. But the small mistakes in addition, 
division, multiplication, and subtraction with integers, 
fractions, and decimals lie at the base of the majority 
of incorrect solutions. It must be admitted that accu- 
racy has not been stressed and fought for as it should 
have been by teachers in the past,^ and those of to-day 
will have to do more than they are doing in order to 
bring about habits of work and of thinking which will 
eliminate the '^ little " mistakes so ruinous to any form 
of calculation. Accuracy will not come with mere drill 
or practice. The child may be confirmed in making his 
mistakes by constantly repeating them in drill. 

The following means are being employed to secure 
accuracy : 

(a) From the very beginning of work in arithmetic the 
child is told that his work will be worthless if he makes 

1 Accuracy must not be confused with old-fashioned " thoroughness 'J 
which was not selective and was usually a waste of time. 



244 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

mistakes in the parts of it which he is supposed to have 
mastered. No work should be credited which contains 
such mistakes. Inaccuracy usually results from lack of 
attention at a time when such inattention is inexcusable 
if the assignment is worth anything. Teachers too often 
grade a paper two thirds correct when the only reason 
the result is wrong is that the child was not careful with 
an easy addition^ or something as simple. If from the 
first lesson he is taught that arithmetic is a science which 
is worthless without accuracy, he is likely to form habits 
in accordance with the requirements. 

(6) Fewer problems should be assigned and more atten- 
tion should be given by the teacher to the work of the chil- 
dren. Too often long assignments are given, and the 
teacher does not have time to see that accuracy is made 
the fundamental feature of the assignment. The chil- 
dren solve their problems in a lazy fashion and are 
more likely to be injured than helped by the work. 
Many times the work is not done at all, and the 
child forms the habit of avoiding work by discovering 
that requirements need not be lived up to. In this 
respect American teachers may learn a lesson from 
those in France, where great pains are taken to see that 
each individual child avoids making mistakes. They 
explain that it is better to prevent mistakes than cor- 
rect them. In any case the practice of making assign- 
ments which the teacher is unable to follow up must be 
avoided, and no more work in arithmetic should be 
assigned than can properly be taken care of. This is 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 245 

more necessary in a subject which is valuable only for 
its exactness than in one where the child's versatility may 
be exercised. 

Extreme care, therefore, should be exercised in making 
assignments and in dealing with the work of the children 
after they have brought their papers to class. A good 
method is to return them to the children and to require 
that they study and drill upon their mistakes. Follow- 
ing thiS; the paper is again returned to the teacher, who 
files it as a concrete record. At the end of the month 
these papers are sent home along with the report cards. 
A child should never be permitted to crumple his paper 
and toss it into the waste basket before he has made a 
careful study of his mistakes. Both parents and children 
soon learn to expect the monthly budget of corrected 
papers, and they like them better than they do the re- 
port cards. In this way every problem that the child 
solves is given due attention, and as a result of his feel- 
ing the greater importance of his practice efforts, the 
accuracy of such work is bound to increase. 

(c) Arithmetics with ready-made answers should be 
discarded. A set of answers for a teacher who is over- 
worked may be worth while, for by using them he can 
tell whether or not to look for mistakes in a problem and 
may save a great deal of time in this way. But these 
answers are the cause of inaccuracy and dependence on 
the part of the children. When his answer is not right, 
the child may keep working until it is. This allows 
him to develop a trial and error method of procedure. 



246 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

After working several years in this way he is never satis- 
fied with his result unless it is confirmed by an " answer." 
When he has reached this stage in his mathematical edu- 
cation, he is almost worthless so far as any life uses of the 
subject are concerned. Mechanics, contractors, business 
men, and engineers are in accord with this conclusion. 
Children must be taught to depend upon their own 
answers. 

2. Common Fractions. Next to accuracy in the 
fundamental processes common fractions cause more 
trouble than any other phase of arithmetic. This is 
probably due to the fact that our arithmetic instruction 
has been too artificial. The examples in the texts usually 
^^ come out even." Those in life rarely do. Thus, after 
six or eight years' training in solving problems which are 
made so that the common fraction may be avoided, it is 
little wonder that children and even adults have trouble. 
The remedy is to put problems which contain common 
fractions in every grade above the one in which fractions 
are introduced. The fraction is difficult because it has 
really become uncommon in the exercises of the school, 
but still quite common in life. As mentioned, only the 
fractions with small denominators need be bothered 
with for the others have little functional value. 

3. Decimals. These cause much trouble for the same 
reason that fractions do. They are taught in one grade 
and are not reviewed. A child in the eighth grade who 
took up decimals in the sixth is likely to have forgotten 
how to point off, especially in division problems. The 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 247 

only way to avoid this difficulty is to make more use of 

them. 

4. Constant drill in every grade in all the fundamentals. 
It is not enough to teach a child long division in the fourth 
o-rade, fractions in the fifth, decimals in the sixth, etc., 
and then expect the regular work to take care of the 
exercise he needs in these subjects. A short period of 
drill (from three to eight minutes) should be given daily 
in all the functional fundamental operations until they 
have become second nature. This drill period will not 
take the place of the use of these fundamentals in the 
solution of problems, but it has been found very useful 
when treated as a supplement to such work. 

Spelling 
The Functional Value of Spelling. SpelHng is valuable 
chiefly for conventional reasons. Few persons misspell 
so badly that those who read cannot understand what 
they have written. He who does not spell correctly, 
however, will find difficulty in securing positions through 
correspondence, and is likely to be rated as poorly trained 
by certain classes of society. The handicap caused by 
inability to spell is out of proportion to the actual need 
for the ability, but few will n^ed to undergo such a handi- 
cap if school authorities will profit by the knowledge 
developed by modern investigations of the teaching of 

spelling. 
Early Development of Spelling Consciousness. The 

child should learn to spell as early in life as it is possible. 



248 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

He must develop a spelling consciousness early in the grades 
and learn to give attention to peculiar words and to take 
pride in correct spelling in all his writing. It is impos- 
sible to teach the child to spell if his attention to the 
words he learns goes no farther than the spelling lesson. 
He should be interested in learning to spell difficult 
words whenever he needs to use them. 

This spelling consciousness and interest in learning to 
spell are fundamental in the development of spelling abil- 
ity. Therefore, just as good English should be made a 
central feature of every lesson, correct spelling should be 
taught in all written work. Not until the child has ac- 
quired the habit of being careful to spell correctly when- 
ever he writes is his spelling ability assured. It is im- 
possible to teach him to spell all the words he is likely to 
write in life, but the spelling consciousness will cause him 
to master new words and to use the dictionary in spelling 
those of which he is doubtful. 

The Poor Speller Is the One Who Needs Teaching. 
Too much was made of good spelling and too little atten- 
tion given to bad spelling by teachers in the past. Most 
of the methods used tended to help those who did not 
need help, and little or nothing was done for those who 
were poor spellers. The old method of ^^ spelling down ^' al- 
lowed good spellers to perform while poor spellers listened 
to them. The method of calling attention to the person 
whose record continued to be 100 per cent and ignoring 
those who did not get 100 per cent produced like results. 
Good spellers usually inherit their abilities. It is not a 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 249 

mark of good teaching to have a record on the blackboard 
showing that one or two children in a room have been 
perfect in spelling throughout the year. 

After the spelling consciousness has been formed, the 
teaching of spelling should focus upon those who find diffi- 
culty. The others are likely to learn to spell no matter how 
they are taught. This subject does not need to be taught 
to all children above the sixth grade. In the seventh and 
eighth grades and even in high school an intensive cam- 
paign should be carried on in order to help the poor 
spellers. By evaluating our materials and methods and 
by making them conform to the needs of the individuals 
who are to be taught, we can do a great deal for poor 
spellers even after they have entered college. Merely 
to pronounce words which are to be written in vertical 
columns will not help these persons. 

Methods of Studying and Learning. There has been 
great advancement during the last decade in our knowl- 
edge of how children learn. We no longer assign a long 
list of words to be learned, require that they be written 
in a spelling book, and then never refer to them again. 
The following points are being stressed in spelling method- 
ology to-day : 

1. Not more than two or three new words should be 
given each day. These should be accompanied by several 
review words taken from previous assignments. 

2. The method of studying difficult useful words and 
writing them in vertical columns is worth retaining. It 
has been claimed that ability to spell gained in this way 



250 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

does not transfer to the use of these words in writing com- 
positions and letters. However, investigations point to 
transfer of from eighty-five to ninety per cent. Cornman, 
who first studied the subject, concluded that there is 
little if any transfer from column to dictation work. 
Wallin contradicted this statement and went to the op- 
posite extreme. Cook and O'Shea tend to confirm the 
conclusions of Wallin. Tidyman and Brown found con- 
siderable transfer but not so much as Wallin or Cook and 
O'Shea. It is important to all such conclusions that the 
investigators discover how many of the words they teach 
are already known by the children. When Tidyman and 
Brown did this, they found about twelve per cent loss. 
This means, therefore, that of every eight words learned 
in vertical columns, seven will be spelled correctly in 
dictation.^ 

3. Constant use should be made of the words learned and 
words which are used by children should be selected for their 
spelling lessons. It is not worth while to learn to spell words 
whose meanings we do not understand. The teacher must 
insist that the child be responsible for his spelling in all 
his writing, and that he attempt difficult words in this 
writing. Often the child does not use the word he wants 
because he is afraid of spelling it incorrectly. Some 
definite means should be employed to stop such a prac- 
tice ; it is more common than one not closely connected 
with the work of children would imagine. The develop- 
ment of a good writing vocabulary is stimulated in chil- 
1 See Elementary School Journal, Dec. 1917. 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 251 

dren by giving attention to the words they use, giving 
better grades for wide usage, and recognizing in regular 
class periods individual efforts in this direction. Spell- 
ing is only a tool, and the child should be impressed 
constantly with the idea that it is better to use a good 
word, even though he misspell it, than to substitute an 
unsatisfactory easily spelled one for it. 

4. In their study of words the children should be 
taught to concentrate upon pecuUarities rather than to at- 
tempt to learn by many repetitions. The old method of 
repeating each word twenty or thirty times orally or in 
writing is being discarded. 

5. For most children words should be visuahzed. 
This may be accompHshed by exposing them on flash- 
cards to the class, or by writing them on the blackboard. 
The visual exposure is followed by oral pronunciation. 
The word is then removed from the child's sight and 
he writes it from the visual-auditory imagery which he 
has. This gives him a large visual picture of the word 
accompanied by both auditory and motor impressions. 
In order to write it correctly after a momentary exposure, 
he must concentrate upon its pecuUarities. This insures 
attention with all the mental powers. The old repetition 
method became a sort of automatic process after a few 
words had been learned by it, and the child might repeat 
the letters in a word a hundred times and not remember 
them any better for it. 

Some General Difficulties. Two special methods of 
studying words are (1) grouping words which fall under 



252 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

specific rules^ and (2) studying individual words which 
are difficult owing to peculiarities of spelling. 

Under (l) the largest group is the phonetic. The 
majority of the words that are commonly written are 
spelled just as they sound. The first step in learning 
to spell, therefore, is the mastery of letter sounds and 
their application in spelling. P^oUowing this, every word 
which is not spelled as it sounds will call attention to 
itself because it is different from the majority of words. 
If a good grounding in phonics is not accomplished 
early in the school course, spelling is bound to be diffi- 
cult, for the child will have nothing to go by except his 
memory of individual words. The common method of 
grouping words into families is not very helpful. The 
child must have a wide experience in sounding and spell- 
ing phonetic words which are not related or grouped. 
The fundamental feature of this work should be to de- 
velop the ability to spell by using the letter sounds and 
to learn as early as possible the words which are not 
spelled as they sound. The large phonetic groups of 
words are the only ones that are usually taught through 
the principles involved. 

A Few Rules May Help Poor Spellers. Poor spellers, 
especially poor visualizers, should be given every rule 
that is likely to help them. Many of the so-called 
^' rules of orthography " have so many exceptions and 
are so long that they are more confusing than helpful. 
Adults who are naturally poor spellers, and who have 
overcome to a certain extent their incapacities in this 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 253 

field, testify that certain rules have been quite help- 
ful to them. The rules which follow are given in the 
order of their importance based upon the use made of 
them by several hundred college students. These rules 
are usually remembered by catch words rather than in 
sentences. They are given here in the forms in which 
they are most often used. 

1. Alice (i follows I and e follows c), a word used by 
a great many persons in order to remember that when 
e and i form a digraph having the sound of long e, the 
e precedes the i after c and s. In most other cases the. 
i precedes {receive, believe, retrieve, etc.). 

2. Coming, used to remember that when a word ending 
in silent e takes a suffix beginning with a vowel the e is 
generally dropped. (Exceptions : words ending in soft 
c and g retain the e when able is added, — traceable, 
manageable, etc.) Coming or a similar word is also 
helpful to many in keeping in mind that when such a 
word has a final e, the consonant is not doubled before 
a suffix. 

3. When a syllable beginning with a consonant is added 
to a word ending in e, the e is retained with the exception 
of such words as — duly, truly, awful, judgment, abridg- 
ment, acknowledgment, and argument. 

4. Lying or dying, used to remember that words end- 
ing in ie change the ie to y when a syllable beginning 
with i is added. 

5. Altogether, used to help remember that compounds of 
all usually drop the final I. The poor speller must also 



254 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

learn that other compounds of EngHsh words usually 
retain the word in full. The exceptions like joyful, fulfill, 
pastime, until, and wherever, must be memorized. 

Almost Everyone Uses Rules. Three weeks' drill 
on these five rules given to a poor speller in the 
eighth grade improved his spelling fifty per cent. A 
study of the different ways poor spellers strive to 
spell correctly will convince anyone of the necessity of 
a few rules such as the above. However, they should 
be few and learned concretely from words. These will 
not insure accurate spelling ; they will merely increase 
the ability to spell. As a rule the poor speller constructs 
rules for himself from his word experiences. These are 
very likely to be incorrect and have more exceptions than 
words to which they apply. One college student re- 
ported that he had formulated for himself rule 3 
given above, but that he did not know that there were 
any exceptions. He was caused a great deal of trouble 
on one occasion by. applying his rule and at that time 
learned of the exceptions. Those who insist on ignoring 
all rules and in teaching by special individual words 
cannot escape from the fact that most persons are using 
rules no matter how they were taught, and that the ma- 
jority of the rules used are incorrect and misleading, for 
they are made up of a few striking experiences of the 
person who uses them. 

Some General Difficulties. Prefixes and suffixes 
cause a great deal of trouble. Consider for example 
the prefix mis : when the poor speller learns that there 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 255 

is only one s in this prefix and that the s is doubled 
only when the root word begins with s, the whole diffi- 
culty with words beginning with mis is overcome. 
The doubling of consonants is another great difficulty. 
Some reference has been made to this in the above 
rules, but it is very difficult to find rules which are 
helpful in this case. It is well for the poor speller to 
learn that monosyllables usually double /, I, and s when 
at the end of the word. Other letters are not doubled 
unless for special reasons. The exceptions, clef, as, 
has, is, his, us, of, if, gas, yes, thus, was, are common words 
and are usually learned through association. If any 
rule is taught, the exceptions to it should be memorized. 
A university professor reports that he must constantly 
look up small words such as bug and gas to find whether 
or not to double the final consonant. He found this rule 
quite helpful. This man, it must be understood, was a 
poor speller. He could not remember individual words. 
As previously stated, it is for just such persons that 
speUing is taught. They cannot be taught to remember 
how to spell all the words in the dictionary. They must 
be taught phonics, a few useful rules, and the common 
difficult words, and this must be followed by as wide an 
association with common words in writing the English 
language as is practicable. A poor speller who does 
little writing will find it almost impossible to become a 
good speller. 

The rules and special difficulties which are given above 
are only illustrative of a type of study which must be 



256 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

made before we will be able to help the poor speller as 
much as we should. When the teacher knows just 
wherein the child who makes mistakes is weak, he can 
help him in an intelligent way. Every poor speller should 
be made the subject of special study. This is not diffi- 
cult. The child is usually willing to cooperate. The 
peculiar method he uses to overcome the difficulties he 
meets, and a record of his type mistakes will give the 
teacher a cue as to how to help him. 

The Selection of Special Words to Teach. There 
have been a number of careful studies of vocabularies, 
and lists of words have been made which have been 
quite helpful to the teaching of spelling.^ No one who is 
acquainted with advancement along this line still clings 
to the old method of teaching words regardless of their 
difficulty or the likelihood of their use. 

With the exception of the ^^ hundred spelling demons '^ 
selected by Jones, none of the compilers have selected 
lists which should be taught because of the special dif- 
ficulties of the words. The problem of the usefulness of 

1 Eldridge, R. C. Six Thousand Common English Words. 

Ayres, L. P. Spelling Vocabularies of Personal and Business Letters. 
Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y. 1913. 

Jones, W. F. Concrete Investigations of the Material of English Spell- 
ing, U. of S. D. Vermillion. 

Cook, W. A., and O'Shea, M. V. The Child and His SpelHng, Bobbs- 
Merrill, 1914. 

Studies have also been made by Studley and Ware, a list made at Johns- 
town, Penn., and another by W. E. Chancellor. From the above lists 
Pryor compiled one for the elementary grades. This is found in the 
16th Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Educa- 
tion, 1917, 86-110. 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 257 

words has been fairly well solved. But it is not neces- 
sary or possible to teach with the same emphasis all the 
words a child is Hkely to use. Special words which he is 
Hkely to find difficult must be taught and constantly 
reviewed. Words giving trouble to children in the 
grades, especially eighth graders who were ready to enter 
high school; to college students, and to poor adult spellers 
have been selected from the Ayres, Jones, and Pryor lists 
for the list which follows. Common words in children's 
vocabularies are mostly learned by constant association 
with them. The adult is likely to have little difficulty with 
most of them. The minimum essential list of Pryor con- 
tains many words which are not difficult for any child and 
may be taught by usage. It is necessary to base the Hst 
selected for stress upon the difficulties of children who 
are finishing the grades, college students, and poor adult 
spellers in order to find those words which are not Hkely 
to be learned by association and usage. This list makes 
no claims at completeness ; it is given not only for its 
usefulness but to illustrate the principle of selection 
in accordance with special difficulties. The difficult 
parts of the words are italicized. 

A List of Useful Difficult Words Based upon Three Years' 
Experience in Using Other Lists 

GRADE ONE 

In the first grade the child should be taught to spell 
common words which are phonetic. His interest in spell- 
ing should be stimulated, and in all his writing he should 



258 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

spell correctly. A great deal of oral spelling should be 
done in this grade. No special list can be selected, for 
it will depend upon the literature used in reading. 

GRADE TWO 

A great deal of phonetic spelling should be done in 
this grade continuing the work of the first grade. In 
addition to this the child should be introduced to a list 
of words which are not spelled as they sound. Words 
which form a slight transition should be used at this time. 
The following have been selected with this purpose. 
Many of these will be learned by association later on, but 
they are useful in making a transition from the purely 
phonetic words to those which are spelled contrary to 
the rules of sound. 



add 


bring 


deep 


eveninj 


air 


brought 


dirt 


eye 


asleep 


burn 


done 


fair 


August 


carry 


do 


iew 


aunt 


ca^ch 


doctor 


first 


been 


chair 


does 


foot 


bear 


change 


dollar 


iour 


better 


claim 


door 


fourth 


hill 


coat 


down 


fresh 


bi^rd 


comb 


draw; 


front 


blacfc 


come 


drink 


Ml 


blue 


couM 


drown 


girl 


boat 


count 


each. 


goes 


boil 


cross 


early- 


God 


bread 


dead 


eight 


good 


bright 


dear 


even 


grass 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 259 



great 


here 


new 


they 


grow 


jump 


only 


took 


guess 


knew 


own 


were 


hali 


/cnife 


root 


write 


hair 


lard 


said 


wrote 


hang 


large 


says 


you 


head 


leaf 


shoe 


young 


hear 


lesson 


sky 


your 


heard 


meet 


soap 




heart 


near 


teeth 






GRADE 


THREE 




about 


bmld 


daughter 


/lonest 


above 


bric^ge 


dinner 


hour 


across 


brindZe 


divide 


inqmre 


&ct 


bitry 


double 


island 


afraid 


busy 


earn 


its 


again 


butter 


earth 


(no apos- 


almost 


button 


easy 


trophe) 


animal 


carried 


else 


jail 


SLUSwer 


circle 


enough 


knee 


appear 


clean 


explain 


tough 


apple 


climb 


family 


learn 


arrest 


close 


February 


leather 


a^^end 


c^oth 


field 


leave 


avoid 


coarse 


fierce 


lemon 


beauty 


coZor 


figi^re 


lightning 


because 


common 


fortitne 


(no e) 


between 


cough 


forty 


lose 


blossom 


coi^ntry 


friend 


(not oo) 


board 


cousin 


frwit 


macMne 


bo^^om 


crowd 


grain 


measure 


breakfast 


daily 


heayy 


miller 


breath 


dangfer 


hoarse 


minute 



260 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



miss 


picture 


severe 


tried 


money 


piece 


sleigh 


until 


much 


pleasant 


stopped 


walk 


(not tch) 1 


primary 


sure (not sh) * 


watch 


music 


prompt 


tMe 


wear 


notice 


prove 


thread 


w/iich 


obey 


qwart 


there 


whistle 


o'clock 


reach 


their 


whole 


often 


ready 


threw 


wrap 


once 


ri6&on 


through 


women 


parlor 


rough 


tired 






GRADE FOUR 




able 


collar 


neighbor 


separate 


Siche 


inquire 


neither 


several 


according 


furnace 


ninety 


shoulder 


a^^owed 


guard 


palace 


soldier 


angel (not le) ^ 


guide 


parade 


stairs 


afiac/c 


itself 


pass 


throat 


author 


justice 


pigeon 


to-morrow 


begiwmng 


l?/ing 


pleasure 


traveler 


biscwz't 


lonesome 


pledge 


trial 


breathe 


master 


practice 


trouble 


canoe 


ma?/or 


raisin 


unless 


carnage 


metal 


region 


viKage 


chain 


mettle 


roof 


weather 


chief 


mischief 


saticer 


weigh 


civil 


mountain 


scholar 


lyrong 



GRADE FIVE 

Siddress already arrive beat 

against agreeable awful (not awe) ^ beet 

1 The wrong form is given in these cases so that the teacher will empha- 
size the correct spelling. Incorrect practices should not be mentioned before 
they are made. 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 261 



birth 


de6t 


heaven 


passenger 


berth 


defeat 


height 


persiiade 


bruise 


describe 


(not th) 1 


poitr 


busmess 


destroy 


hospital^ 


press 


cannot 


di^erent 


instead 


promise 


can't 


disappoint 


jowrney 


roll 


cement 


familiar 


judge 


scratch 


coast 


famous 


langitage 


succeed 


collect 


favorite 


length 


success 


column 


fever 


mail 


tear 


course 


fi/th 


male 


victim 


coitrt 


finaZ 


medicine 


view 


damage 


firm 


merely 






GRADE SIX 




assure 


Sithletic 


command 


general 


accept 


attendance 


commii^ee 


genuine 


acquaintance 


baggfage 


complete 


glorzous 


appetite 


balance 


convenient 


giiest 


appreciation 


breast 


criticise 


imagine 


arrival 


bargain 


develop 


interrupt 


assist 


benefit 


dictionary 


innocent 


attempt 


brief 


di^erence 


luncheon 


SLvenue 


calendar 


disappear 


mountain 


acknoi(;le(ige 


captain 


engage 


necessary 


advertise 


catalogue 


entire 


oblige (not d) ^ 


annual 


certain 


estate 


occasion 


apply 


contain 


existence 


o^ice 


appoint 


career 


factory 


o^icial 


appreciate 


cemetery 


favor 


particular 


arrange 


c/iaracter 


fina^ty 


patient 



1 The wrong form is given in these cases so that the 
size the correct spelHng. Incorrect practices should not 
they are made. 



teacher will empha- 
be mentioned before 



262 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 



pavement 


preliminary 


special 


superintendent 


peculiar 


privilege 


strength 


testimony 


private 


receipt 


salary 


unfor^iinate 


pursue 


resta2^rant 


secretary 


valuable 


proceed 


recogm;2e 


session 


volume 


physicmn 


recommend 


similar 


vacant 


practical 


religion 


su^icient 


witness 



If these few hundred words are mastered by each child 
and the remaining time given to his own peculiar mis- 
takes and difficulties, greater efficiency in everyday 
spelling will result. There are very few useful difficult 
words which are not included in the above lists. 

In addition to this list there are many peculiar words 
with which children will experience little difficulty if the 
peculiarity is pointed out to them. Such words as catarrh, 
words which begin with qu, those that begin with silent 
k, such as knife, the ch words which do not sound the h, 
as chord, character, etc., make up a small list easily mas- 
tered through association. The days of the week, stress- 
ing Wednesday, the months of the year, stressing Febru- 
ary, the seasons, holidays, and the common proper names 
of a community should be taught.^ 

Writing 

The Function of Writing. Writing is a medium for 

expressing the English language through written words. 

Its conventional value has decreased considerably in the 

last decade. This is probably due to the increased use 

^ The Everyday Spelling Books, Bobbs-Merrill, are modern and scientific 
from all standpoints. 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 283 

of typewriters. However, if it is possible to attain 
without too great effort, the abihty to write well is very 
worth while. The conventional reaction to good or poor 
writing is similar to, although not quite so strong as 
that for spelling. It is out of proportion to the actual 
value of writing, but since it exists, no child should be 
allowed to suffer unnecessary difficulties in social and 
vocational life because of neglect of this side of his edu- 
cation in the elementary school. There is better reason 
for spending time in developing the ability to write rapidly 
and legibly than there is for spending time in technical 
grammar or a great deal of our arithmetic. 

Legibility and a certain amount of speed are the only 
essentials in writing. The ability to wield the pen in an 
artistic manner may be valuable to a few who desire to 
become pen artists, but since most persons will write only 
to communicate their thoughts, writing from the artistic 
standpoint should have no place in our elementary school 
curriculum. The law of diminishing returns, when ap- 
phed to writing, wou d probably fix a score of seventy on 
the Ayres Scale as the Kmit beyond which practice is 
unprofitable. 

Points to Stress in Teaching Writing. In developing 
proper speed and legibility the teacher should stress the 
following : 

1. Position. The child should habituate himself to 
the proper position for good writing as early as possible. 
He should sit with his back balanced in a position of rest. 
Too often the teacher's admonitions regarding position 



264 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

cause the child to become rigid and to take a position 
which constantly subjects him to strain. Position is very 
important in the acquisition of the ability to write rapidly 
and well ; and if a straining position is acquired, the 
child's writing will always be cramped and will become 
worse as he continues to write. 

2. The method of holding the pen or pencil. This 
should afford an easy restful grasp. The pen or pencil 
should not be held too close to the end. 

3. Maintain the uniform slant of letters and the align- 
ment of the words across the page. It is not necessary 
to teach any special slant, but all the letters should have 
the same slant. 

4. A definite, legible ideal for each letter which should 
be persisted in through all the grades. 

When the above points are emphasized, the child has 
something definite to work for in improving his writing. 
These elements have been found to be the important ones 
in the development of the ability to write rapidly and 
legibly.^ If they have been constantly emphasized as basic 
features, the child should have little difficulty in attain- 
ing a score of seventy by the end of the sixth grade. He 
should work toward being excused from practice when he 
reaches seventy in everyday work. 

From the standpoint of both hygiene and efficiency all 
writing periods should be short. From ten to fifteen 
minutes is sufficient. The muscular movement is not 

^ Experiments reported in 17th Yearbook previously referred to. See 
also Freeman : The Teaching of Handwriting. Houghton Mifflin Co- 



SELECTION IN ARITHMETIC AND SPELLING 265 

necessary, although most speciaHsts in this subject insist 
upon it. School administrators agree that it is desirable, 
but many are not requiring it. Some children are so dis- 
turbed by being required to use it that results are not worth 
this extra effort. It becomes especially obnoxious when 
all writing in all subjects is supposed to be done by muscular 
movement. The use of the typewriter in all occupations 
which require very much writing has made the acquisition 
of any special movement unnecessary. Those who find 
special difficulty with it do not need to go through six or 
seven years of agony for such a valueless accomplishment. 



CHAPTER XII 
METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 

It is not the intention in this chapter to attempt to 
treat of school or child hygiene but rather to give to the 
average teacher methods and practices which foster 
health and to point out those which militate against 
it. There are so many peculiar ideas about hygienic 
methods of dealing with school work that it seems wise 
to consider in a book on practice those features of 
the subject which may and should be employed every- 
where. 

Hygienic Methods More Efficient. Everyone should 
understand that there is no conflict between hygiene 
and the most effective, lasting, and rapid learning. Learn- 
ing cannot be lasting or profitable if physical and mental 
health are impaired. Learning never demands that chil- 
dren he injured. Wherever education and vitality seem 
to be opposed to each other, there is a mistaken theory or 
inadequate administration. Modern schools, that is, 
those which truly represent modern theory, are protect- 
ing health and at the same time are obtaining results 
which in both quality and quantity surpass those of the 
traditional school. One of the most important factors 

in the efliciency of some modern schools is the large 

266 




cfi H fH 

« K <; 

o ^ 

- CO 5! 

CO ;^ ^ 

" H W 

Z « 

H Q 
cc J 



* ^ ►^ 

o 2 o 

h3 H S 

.^ 5 t* «3 

r f^ ^ ^ 

^ O ^ ?^ 

17 Q CO d 

1^ •< ►"• tD 

h3 :?; S W 

■ ^ Ui ^ 

.«2 h3 « 






W H ^ 

^ ^ o 



^ >^ fe 

W g ^ 
t-1 O (H 



O g P3 

H H K H 

<) p P to 

p ^ U O 

WW g ^ 

S « « £ 

w ^ ^ 

< m 'z ^ 



5 w 



O ^ h3 « 
M iri M 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 267 

amount of attention given by the teachers to making 
their instruction both mentally and physically hygienic. 

Health Methods Growing in Popularity. The matter 
of more healthful methods and practices is being given 
great consideration by schoolmen in all countries. In 
Monroe's "Cyclopedia of Education^' a great deal of space 
is given to this sub j ec t . Burgerst ein devotes over four hun- 
dred pages to it in the second edition of his handbook. 
He emphasizes the hygienic importance of the mental 
habits formed by education and of the secondary effects 
of instruction. In Rapeer's " Educational Hygiene/' ^ A. S. 
Beik makes the statement, " The demands of instruction 
should be fitted first of all to the child's innate ability, 
stage of development, and condition of health, after 
which he should be given as nearly as possible optimum 
conditions in which to work ; work and rest should be 
properly alternated in order to avoid injury from over- 
fatigue ; finally regard should be had for the laws of 
mental health, care being taken to develop proper habits of 
attention, association of ideas, and emotional response." 

Health and the Early Development of Special Abilities 

Rapid Early Development Should Be Watched but Not 
Opposed. There was a time when educational thinkers and 
leaders, in reacting against the cramming of unselected 
subject matter into the heads of small children, created 
the impression that precocity in itself was dangerous. 
This idea soon gave a wide prevalence to the notion that 

1 Scribner's, Boston, 1915, p. 585. 



268 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

mental labor or activity of any sort, especially when 
connected with school subjects, is not advantageous be- 
fore the age of six, eight, nine, or ten years, the age limit 
depending upon the bias of the person making the state- 
ment. 

However, a study of the data upon which such con- 
clusions were based shows that arrests, neuroticisms, 
special failings in essential mental and motor abilities, 
and ill-health in a large per cent of " especially bright " 
children are due to the methods used by teachers and to 
the ignoring of certain fundamental factors of growth 
such as exercise, a suitable amount of play, proper social 
environment, etc. The exceptional mental ability may 
have been developed at the expense of more important 
features of life ; of itself it could not have been the 
cause of the evil results. In fact, school authorities are 
beginning to expect better results in regular school work 
and an earlier mastery of the fundamentals of such sub- 
jects as arithmetic, spelling, writing, etc., as an outcome 
of using methods which foster rather than militate against 
children's physical growth and happiness. 

An American physician ^ who has made a study of pre- 
cocious children with reference to their health concludes : 
" Of precocity, the relationship to neuroticism has often 
been declared ; but our analysis will show the error of 
this view unless it is greatly qualified. While it is true 
that many children apparently precocious in an intel- 

1 Williams, T. A. (M.D.)- Intellectual Precocity. Ped. Sem. Vol. 18, 
1911, pp. 85-103. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 269 

lectual sense are unstable mentally, incapable of sus- 
tained effort, and become adult nonentities without 
special capacity, yet these misfortunes are by no means 
functions of the precocity of these individuals ; but are 
due to faulty bodily hygiene, intemperate and ill-timed 
mental labor, and to excessive emotional stresses in an 
individual who has not learned to master the moods. 

" As a matter of fact proper mental labor is needed for 
sound psychic health. Physiologists know that a dis- 
used organ is more liable to disintegration or to become dis- 
eased than one which is regularly used. 

" What is true of structure is true of functional power. 
From ballet dancer to violin virtuoso, artists must be 
trained from early youth. It may be objected that this 
is true because muscular agility is required, but this 
objection is only superficial, for the dexterity of an artist 
is made possible not in virtue of superior coordinations 
of movements themselves but by means of the superior 
speed and accuracy of the guiding mental processes which 
reside in the brain." 

Feeling Tone and Social Disposition Important. 
Dr. Williams goes on to say that the most important 
element of instruction, whether given early in the child's 
life or later, is ^^ feeling tone." If he is happy in his 
work, it is not likely to injure him. This happiness is 
also essential, he says, for rapid and thorough learning. 
He gives a number of pathological cases which he has 
cured by ^^ reeducation," and he constantly maintains 
that there is no scientific evidence for ^^ the facile accept- 



270 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

ance of slovenliness and inefficiency as a normal quality 
of young children." 

Extraordinary abilities in school subjects developed 
by a very young child should be watched closely by 
teachers and parents. Dolbear/ who made a study of 
precocious children of the past and present, came to the 
conclusion that all such cases should be closely observed 
by those who have them in charge. If, as Miss Dolbear 
says, many are " very much spoiled " and their indi- 
vidualities have been developed to the neglect of their 
social natures, their training has not been wisely con- 
sidered. Many suffer physically. Others have poor 
motor control. The Sidis child is mentioned as being 
especially deficient in both social and motor abilities. 

Factors to Keep in Mind. The teacher is not likely 
to go astray in dealing with such cases if he follows the 
following principles : 

1. Is the ^^ bright " child vital and healthy? If not, 
he should be encouraged to do less indoor sedentary work 
and to play out of doors as much as possible. His men- 
tality should not be ignored, and he must be given tasks 
that are worthy of his efforts. These tasks should be of 
short duration, however, and should not keep him indoors 
for long periods. 

2. Does the child who is extraordinary in his school 
work get along well with his fellows? Many so-called 
bright children are often the dullest of companions 
and playfellows. They fail in later life because they 

* Precocious Children. Fed. Sem. 1913. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 271 

have not used their brightness in learning the ways of 
the social world. When such a child is discovered in 
school, the teacher should urge him to play more with 
his fellows. He should be taught that the ability to 
take and hold his part in a good game is just as impor- 
tant as being able to recite well in school. Such a child 
should not be allowed to come to the teacher with stories 
about impositions upon him by other children. He 
must learn to hold his own in the great world outside the 
schoolroom. 

3. Any indication of nervousness, overemotional re- 
action, or faulty motor adjustments in such children 
should be looked upon as very grave, and the teacher 
should do everything he can to alleviate such difficulties. 
If they are allowed to run, the future of the child is not 
hopeful. The proper hygienic surroundings with removal 
of strain of every kind will do much to relieve these 
troubles. 

4. When the child is normal in every other way, when 
he plays well, cooperates and does not quarrel unduly 
with his companions, and when his emotional attitude is 
one of healthy accomplishment and joy in living, he 
should be given every opportunity to use his powers to 
the fullest extent. However, it is usually best to sug- 
gest that he develop powers and do mental work out- 
side the course of study. Such a child will not be bene- 
fited nearly so much by hurrying through the school re- 
quirements and finishing early as he will by devoting his 
extra abilities and energies to something of importance 



272 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to him. The common school furnishes httle more than 
a common education. The child who is capable should 
reap the rewards to which his capacity entitles him. 
The following outside activities are suggested for such 
children : 

1. Physics, electricity, wireless, etc. 

2. Music, piano, violin, voice. 

3. Wide reading in books of a high economic, social, 
and cultural value. 

4. Chemistry ; a laboratory at home and constant 
experiments developed Edison's present power and 
mentality. 

5. Gardening, nature study, biology, the care and 
study of animals. Agassiz was famous for such works at 
the age of ten. Burbank was developed in this way. 

6. Extra energy spent in learning a trade. John 
Rennie, the great English engineer, received impetus 
and a basis for his career by working at odd times with 
a blacksmith. 

The reason for developing outside interests for these 
children is that they tend to become and to appear ab- 
normal if they are in the same classes with children who 
are both larger and older than they. As he approaches 
adolescence this type of child should have some dominant 
life interests to which to devote his extra energies in this 
period of stress. 

The four principles given here should, of course, be 
applied in our treatment of normal children. The pre- 
cocious or '^ extra bright " child, however, needs especial 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 273 

attention from this standpoint. The backward or de- 
ficient child needs attention of a different nature. 

Backward Children 

The Slow Child Needs Encouragement. Special 
care should be exercised with backward children in 
order that they may not become nervous under the 
strain of knowing that they are not coming up to 
expectations. The teacher's motto should be '' encour- 
age." Every means should be exhausted to discover and 
eliminate the causes of backwardness. If the child has 
poor health, the parents should be informed, and ways 
of improving his health should be suggested. If it is 
evident that he is naturally slow, every opportunity to 
make him happy with his lot should be taken advantage 
of. His special capacities should be brought to the 
front. If he has any powers, he should be told of them. 
Too often the school is a means of causing backward 
children to become more backward. Due to constant 
scolding and failure in school many persons who are 
fairly capable lose confidence in themselves. Others 
become soured on the world and society when they 
might have become happy efficient citizens under proper 
stimulation and encouragement in school. 

Unimportant Defects Should Not Be Emphasized. 
Very often unimportant types of backwardness are made 
too much of by the school. I have in mind a boy 
who was held back in school and made nervous because 
of inability in oral reading. A teacher who did not 



274 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

overstress this type of performance so encouraged him 
that he was able to skip a year's work. His attitude 
towards both school work and life was materially im- 
proved. Backwardness in only one subject should never 
be allowed to retard a child. 

Arrested Development 

Peculiar Arrests Very Frequent. One of the most 
important problems of mental hygiene in the school 
is to teach in a way which will prevent arrests and 
destructive by-products. The dangers of arrests have 
long been recognized by leaders in education. Many 
years ago Dr. W. T. Harris spoke of them as follows : '^ A 
severe drill in mechanical habits of memorizing or cal- 
culating, any overcultivation of sense perception in 
tender years, may so arrest the development of the soul 
in a mechanical method of thinking as to prevent further 
growth into spiritual insight." ^ 

Although such cases have been noted and commented 
upon now and then, they have not been brought to the 
foreground as they should have been in books on method. 
One of the best studies of arrests is that made by Dr. 
Norman Triplett. He discovered that many individuals 
in X college classes were sufferers from poorly directed or 
overzealous pedagogy applied to them in childhood. He 
collected these cases and reported them.^ '^ About 700 of 
these cases have been collected/' he writes. " It is not 

1 Psychologic Foundations of Education, p. 142. 

2 Pedagogical Arrests and Peculiarities. Ped.|Sem. Vol. 12, 1905, pp. 
141-157. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 275 

difficult to find them ; indeed the majority of most classes 
find that they have some phase of the so-called arrests." 

They occur in most of the "common branches." They 
should be expected here, for the traditional school is likely 
to overstress this side of education and to teach such 
subjects as geography, history, reading, writing, and 
arithmetic regardless of all pedagogical principles. Some 
of the arrests described by Dr. Triplett are : 

Geography. Overemphasis of places on maps and of 
map-drawing has resulted in the development of a map 
imagery which cannot be overcome. When the in- 
dividual wants to think of some place on the earth, a 
map comes up instead. These cases are always found 
among persons who are visualizers Peculiar methods 
and practices have been continuously used until a special 
image is welded into the child's consciousness, and he is 
never able entirely to eradicate it. Some statements 
that illustrate this are : 

''We drew the coast line so often, especially the New England 
coast, that each indentation as it appeared on the map stands out 
as vividly as it did then ; the result is that I never think of those 
bays as bodies of water but as small blue spots on the map." 

"At eight years of age I entered a class in M's geography, 
a textbook with supplementary atlas. Several years were 
spent upon map questions ; today the mention of even a famil- 
iar place suggests a map rather than a picture of the place." 

Methods of Preventing. Such cases, and they are 
quite frequent and of many varieties, reveal that teach- 
ers must teach more concretely, use more thinking and 



276 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

less drill and memorizing, and sound children constantly 
as to the concepts they are acquiring. Overdrill and 
extreme requirements in the memorizing of symbols must 
be avoided. 

Arithmetic. Constant pressure with scoldings and 
threats often develops an unfortunate mental attitude 
towards this subject which is carried through life. A 
child, who, properly taught, may have mastered the 
essentials of arithmetic, may lose , this ability entirely. 
It must be kept in mind that in every class there are 
likely to be one or two children who are by nature lack- 
ing in this type of intelligence. It is best to let them 
work slowly and acquire the subject by growth rather 
than bring about overstrain. " Counting " is a type of 
hysteria. A nervous individual who has been strenu- 
ously trained in mathematics may acquire a mania for 
counting. " Counters " are not always caused by over- 
pressure or overdrill in arithmetic, but it can readily be 
seen that severe pressure in this subject would aggravate 
hysterical natures. Weird number forms are also often 
a result of bad methods of teaching. 

Special Causes of Arrests. That peculiar attitudes 
towards any subject may be developed in children by 
improper teaching methods cannot be doubted. The 
teacher should, as far as possible, avoid doing anything 
which is likely to fix the child's attitude against a sub- 
ject, or develop a method of thinking which will keep him 
'' in a rut," or militate against his progress. Some special 
causes of arrests are : 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 277 

1. Too much stress placed upon a subject too early in 

life. 

2. Threats or overstrenuous demands by teachers. 

3. Failing a child for deficiency in a single subject. 

4. Overdrill and not enough appUcation. 

5. Constant association with symbols and not enough 
concrete work. 

Home Study 

Over thirty years ago the Boston board of education 
passed a resolution as follows : " Home lessons in arith- 
metic should be given out only in exceptional cases." 
President Walker of the board said, " Over and over 
again have I had to send my own children, in spite of 
their tears and remonstrances, to bed, long after the 
assigned tasks had ceased to have any educational value 
and had become the means of nervous exhaustion and 
agitation, highly prejudicial to body and to mind ; and 
I have no reason to doubt that such has been the experi- 
ence of a large proportion of the parents whose children 
are habitually assigned home lessons in arithmetic." ^ 

An important factor of home study is the character of 
the home. For example, Schmidt, quoted by Burnham, 
found in one city 25,679 dwel ings in cellars ; 3385 dwell- 
ings on the fifth story ; 343 still higher; 560 ground stories 
with 175 to 200 tenants each ; 154 with 226 to 250 in- 

1 Burnham, W. H. The Hygiene of Home Study. Fed. Sem. Vol. 
12, 1905, pp. 213-230. Dr. Burnham is quoted largely in this section 
because he is the only American who has gone far into the field of the 
hygiene of instruction. 



278 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

habitants each ; and 6 with a still larger number of people. 
Further it was reported that there were 1749 common 
kitchens, and the climax of misery was found in 4086 
dwellings which consisted only of a kitchen. In dwellings 
with only one heated room the number of inhabitants 
was 14,100.1 

Then the work a child must do outside of school, the 
fact that he will probably be helped more through 
recreation than study, and the slovenly habits formed 
by dawdling over irksome tasks, all point in the direction 
of fewer home assignments. To quote Burnham further : 
'^ The trend of opinion now is rather strongly against the 
giving of home tasks. The opinion of hygienists is that 
it leads to overpressure, at least in many individual 
cases. The opinion of many school men also is that it 
leads to deception and slovenly work, and that only a 
minimum amount is necessary. 

" In the case of the poor, where home conditions make 
hygienic study impossible, or where so much work must 
be done by the pupils that there is no time for study, 
the allotment of home tasks should be altogether con- 
demned. In the case of the well-to-do, where the par- 
ents wish to share in the education of their children and 
where outside tasks like instruction in music, domestic 
duties, or the 1 ke may be quite as mportant as the school 
work, the allotment of home tasks is likewise undesirable. 
The safe rule wouM seem to be that no home work should 

1 Berlin in 1904. Burnham notes that many of our own cities are not 
far in advance of this. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 279 

be prescribed ; but where this seems desirable, sugges- 
tion for spontaneous work on the part of the pupil may 
well be given." 

The best time to study is during the day at school. 
There should be provided, from the fifth grade up, ample 
study periods. At this time the children should be 
taught hygienic and effective study methods. 

Child Health and Arithmetic 

Length of Periods. In the study of this subject grow- 
ing children must be confined within school buildings 
and must sit in school seats. It is apparent, then, that 
there is a limit to the amount of time which may be 
profitably spent in this way. Too much time, especially 
in continuous periods, not only militates against vitality 
but also results in less rapid and less thorough learning. 
Kirby, Thorndike, Burnham, Stone, Rice, and Brown 
report that less time spent more efficiently will result in 
better learning in this subject. This is true especially 
in drill work. The time which may profitably be spent 
in ordinary arithmetic does not exceed fifteen minutes 
per day in the primary, twenty minutes per day in the 
intermediate, and thirty minutes per day in the upper 
grades. 

Burnham ^ suggests, — ^^ If in 16 per cent of the school 
time pupils learn as much arithmetic as in 20 per cent of 
the time, hygiene suggests that the superfluous time de- 

^ Arithmetic and School Hygiene. Burnham, W. H. Ped. Sem. Vol. 
18, 1911, pp. 54-73. 



280 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

voted to the subject had better be spent in play out of 
doors. It is not for hygiene to minimize the importance 
of arithmetic ; but with so many subjects crowding the 
curriculum the problem whether too much time is spent 
on arithmetic although primarily a pedagogical question, 
becomes a hygienic one also." 

Nervous Tension and Over-stress Should Be Avoided. 
If the best results are to follow, the teacher should do 
everything possible to prevent anxiety and worry, men- 
tal strain, and tension in the study of this subject; for 
it seems more than other subjects to be the cause of 
worry and nervousness in children. Burnham gives the 
following case among others : '^ A boy of ten is working 
a sum on the blackboard. He stumbles and blunders 
unaccountably. The teacher in her pedagogical zeal 
goads and nags him, and finally humiliates him by bring- 
ing into the class his younger sister from a lower grade 
to perform the example for him. Within ten days the 
same boy is ill with endocarditis, a disease to which chorea 
too often seems to be prodromal.'^ 

This is, of course, an exceptional case, and many 
teachers know from experience that such results do not 
always follow this kind of treatment. But the teacher 
should also know that some children undergo undue nerv- 
ous strain because mathematical association is so difficult 
for them. These individuals should be closely watched 
and shielded rather than scolded at critical times. The 
child's nervous balance is worth many times as much to 
him as is the arithmetic. And it must also be kept in 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 281 

mind that when the former is in any way threatened the 
latter is bound to suffer in the long run. If the child 
appears delicate, undernourished, nervous, or especially 
backward in this subject, the teacher should be especially 
careful not to add to the difficulties by his method of 
teaching. 

Time to Begin Arithmetic. By making it a part of 
their lives and by teaching it for no more than fifteen 
minutes per day, arithmetic may be made quite profitable 
to children in the first grade. It does not have the draw- 
backs of reading, which requires continuous use of the 
fine eye-muscles. Some of the time that has been de- 
voted to reading might with profit be given over to arith- 
metic. Games which involve elementary arithmetic, 
memory work, and concrete arithmetic involved in money, 
measuring, and counting may be taken up without dif- 
ficulty in the primary grades. Before he finishes the 
third grade the normal child may be taught all the 
multiplication tables, addition, subtraction, and most of 
division. If no more than fifteen minutes a day is de- 
voted to the subject in the lower grades, if the teacher is 
constantly on the lookout for overstrain, and if individ- 
uals who are backward are not discouraged but encour- 
aged, more arithmetic than is ordinarily completed in 
the fourth grade may be finished by the end of the third. 
The objections raised by Burnham, Kilpatrick, and others 
to arithmetic below the age of eight or ten years are 
limited to the three factors : (1) too much time given in 
the lower grades, (2) the undue strain resulting from un- 



282 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

sympathetic and oppressive methods, and (3) too early 
introduction of abstract association. 

The Hygiene of Motor Subjects 

Drawing and other forms of art work, writing, wood- 
work, and sewing as a group of motor subjects furnish 
many problems in instruction as related to health. The 
hygienic elenient in teaching these subjects is very im- 
portant. " For lack of it at the present time," says 
Burnham,^ " many errors prevail, and there is often 
failure to give suitable opportunity for the development 
of this form of artistic speech." From the standpoint 
of hygiene the following features are important. 

Vision. The teacher should keep in mind that the 
younger the child the less developed are his eyes, and 
that in the lower grades very little work should be done 
which will require minute inspection. Basketry, weav- 
ing, drawing, needlework, and writing must be carefully 
watched from this standpoint. Many children are in- 
capable of good motor work because of poor vision. 
The teacher should strive to discover whether the 
child's vision is normal and whether or not he is color 
blind. This defect is usually found in from two to 
four per cent of boys but hardly ever in girls. 
Teachers who think that the introduction of more mod- 
ern motor subjects will insure a more hygienic program 
often violate the laws of visual hygiene by using too 
fine materials. 

1 The Hygiene of Drawing. Ped. Sem. Vol. 14, 1917, pp. 289-304. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 283 

Position. When a child is required to work at a 
motor subject for a regular daily period, the position 
he assumes is of great importance, not only to the 
efficiency of the work, but also to his general physical 
well-being. In woodwork the bench should be of such 
height as to allow work which may be done without 
constant bending at the waist. In the vocational 
schools of many European countries the development 
of a health-stimulating posture is made a vital part of 
instruction.^ 

In drawing, painting, and writing, the following prin- 
ciples of position should be kept in mind by the teacher 
and adhered to by the children. The teacher should not 
make position a cause of nervous tension by being too 
rigid in the enforcing of rules. 

Every child should understand that his posture will 
affect his circulation, breathing, growth, endurance, and 
finally, his efficiency. Good postures are the most restful 
and are never rigid. 

1. The upper part of the body should rest at an easy 
erect position. 

2. The surface of the paper should be in a place which 
will not require undue strain either in stretching or cramp- 
ing the muscles. 

3. The left hand and arm should be used to hold the 
paper and in no way subjected to strain or cramping. 

4. The shoulders should by all means be kept in an 
easy, restful position and at equal height. 

1 See Burgerstein and Netolitzski, Das Handbuch der Schulhygiene. 



284 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Length of Periods. In woodwork and laboratory 
cooking long periods are not unwholesome. If an in- 
formal attitude is taken by the teacher, these subjects 
are likely to be restful. In writing, continuous practice 
for improvement should not last over five minutes in the 
lower grades, ten minutes in the intermediate grades, and 
fifteen minutes in the upper grades.^ Sewing, especially 
of a fine nature, is very hard on the eyes. The teacher 
must arrange so as not to have long periods of close 
work. 

Materials. Materials which are unwholesome or which 
interfere with good work are not only inefficient but harm- 
ful. Drawing crayons often contain arsenic. Children 
should be protected against the least possibility of any- 
thing of this nature. When the materials are inadequate 
or interfere with the child's performance, nervous tension 
is very likely to ensue. A scratchy pen, a penholder not 
suited to the child, and paper surface that interferes with 
writing are likely to cause unnecessary worry. Good 
materials, but not necessarily intricate or expensive ap- 
paratus, should always be provided. 

Reading 

Importance of Health Methods in Reading. Since 
school authorities place more stress upon reading than 
upon any other subject, and since it is involved in the 
acquisition of knowledge in every other subject, it is 
very important that proper hygienic methods and mate- 
1 Large list of Experiments given by Thompson, 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 285 

rials be used in teaching it and that hygienic habits be 
formed by those who read. Reading also involves the 
constant use of the eyes. These sense-organs, which 
are basic to all life occupations and activities, are often 
injured by the work imposed upon the child in school. 
That children should be thus handicapped and injured 
in the name of education seems almost beyond belief in 
this enlightened day and age ; but it is nevertheless true 
that they are. Publishers and book agents continually 
claim that they do not go to the expense of making 
hygienic books because teachers and school authorities do 
not demand or buy them. When a publisher does produce 
a proper book, he finds that a cheaper book is available and 
that there is no sale for his. The time is coming, although 
slowly, when there will be a hygienic minimum for every 
book published, and stringent laws will be made concern- 
ing books that are to be read by children especially. In 
the meantime the least we should do is to stress hygienic 
methods of using the books that are on hand. 

When Should Reading Begin ? The important factor 
in beginning the proper teaching of reading is not to wait 
too long. When taught rightly, reading may well begin 
in the kindergarten. Many hygienists have made the 
mistake of confusing all reading with the improper 
methods, long periods, and oppressive practices of the 
traditional school. Burnham wisely suggests that formal 
instruction be deferred. But the modern school is en- 
tirely doing away with the old formal methods. The 
work is being related to the child's natural life and in- 



286 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

terests all through the grades. In the Horace Mann 
kindergarten instruction in reading is quite profitable, 
and; since injurious methods are not used; no bad effects 
follow.^ 

Length of Periods. All reading periods should be 
short. In the lower grades it is better to have two ten- 
or fifteen-minute periods than one of twenty or thirty 
minutes. In the intermediate grades not over twenty 
minutes should be continuously devoted to reading. 

Protective Methods, (l) In the first and second grades 
children should not be required to keep the place while a 
pupil reads. The constant attention to the page does 
not allow the fine eye muscles opportunity to relax. 
The educational value of " keeping the place " is too 
small to compensate for injury that might result. The 
child is not likel}^ to learn much about reading by fol- 
lowing another's recitation. There is greater incentive 
to the reader in expressing his paragraph or page to a 
group which is interested in his performance than to one 
which has its eyes glued to books. If the child attends 
to his book only when he is to read; there is little op- 
portunity for overstrain. 

By long observation it has been found that find- 
ing the place when called upon is of even greater 
educational value than keeping it. The child must 
keep in mind what is being read and must use his 
reading ability to glance rapidly over the page and 
find the place where the last reader stopped. Any 
1 Described and reference given in the chapter on Motives. 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 287 

teacher who will try conscientiously for three weeks the 
method of allowing the child to read to the class while it 
keeps its books closed, and of giving each new reader the 
page but allowing him to find the place for himself, is 
likely to be an advocate of the system. Tried for a day 
or two with inexperienced children, or with those who 
have been trained merely to follow the reader, success 
should not be expected. Everything that is worth while 
must be worked for. With proper exercise children soon 
develop great ability to find the page when the teacher 
has given the number. They scan it rapidly and are 
ready to read almost as quickly as when they have been 
required to keep their eyes upon the lines. 

A very advantageous and hygienic exercise in reading 
is to read a sentence or a paragraph, name the page, and 
see how quickly all the children can find the place. 

It is very important that the delicate and immature 
eye muscles of small children be protected from strain 
or continuous contraction. Reading by small children 
should be continually alternated by looking away from 
the book. 

(2) Another method which is valuable from the learn- 
ing standpoint and likewise hygienic is to ask children to 
read a paragraph and then, looking away from their 
books, tell the vital parts of it. 

Illustration : 

Teacher : " Who can tell us what the elephant said to 
the camel? When you are ready, stop reading and look 
at me. After I have seen that you are ready, you may 



288 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

find out how the camel answered him, if you want to, 
while some of the others are trying to catch up." 

Question follows question throughout the recitation. 
The children read silently and after each question they 
look away from their books to recite. 

A more advanced class may read and report under some 
such direction as the following : 

^^ Will you all read the next paragraph and be ready 
as quickly as possible to tell us the important addi- 
tions to our story that you find there? " 

It will readily be seen that both of the methods sug- 
gested are in line with the modern attitude towards read- 
ing and are effective in helping the children to gain power 
in silent scanning. 

Position in Reading. We cannot be too careful that 
children have good light, falling upon the book and not 
shining into their eyes. Teachers often do not like to go 
to the trouble of constantly adjusting shades or of moving 
the children about. Time spent in this way is well spent 
and is bound to be a large factor in producing better results. 

The children should sit in a free position with bodies 
erect. There is no special advantage in holding the book 
rigidly in the left hand. This is a custom which prob- 
ably grew up from some accidental beginning and is now 
almost a fetish with some teachers. It is probably 
better to hold the book in both hands. The teacher should 
allow the child to use the most natural and restful method. 

Materials for Reading. Teachers should band them- 
selves together to fight for hygienic books. We shall 



METHODS WHICH FOSTER HEALTH 289 

never get them unless we assert that hygiene is a minimum 
essential, and that interesting and educative contents 
is worth while only if this minimum is complied with. 
It costs more to put out a hygienic book than to put out 
one where the laws of hygiene do not have to be fol- 
lowed. 

The print should be of correct height, weight, and 
spacing. The correct size is given here.^ 

Grade 1 

^^The children cannot see it 
now.'' 

Grades 2 and 3 

*' She must climb the tree. She held 
on, first to one branch and then to an- 

Grade 4 

" On the way down, an Indian who was in a 
canoe stole something from the ship. One of 

In order to make attractive pictures, which are more in 
demand than hygienic materials, publishers are often 
forced to use paper with a very high finish. Whenever 
possible the teacher should give preference to the text 
printed on paper that does not reflect the light. 

The books and materials used in reading should be 
watched closely so as not to become sources of contagion. 

1 According to Terman in The Hygiene of the School Child, 
u 



290 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Children should not wet their fingers in their mouths 
and then use them to turn pages. Whenever a book 
comes in contact with a child who has a contagious dis- 
ease, it should be burned rather than fumigated. Fumi- 
gation is a very doubtful method of removing contagion 
from books. It is rarely possible to do it effectively. 

Summary 

It might be said by way of summary that hygienic 
methods are natural methods. Anything that runs 
counter to the child's natural growth or spontaneity is 
not likely to be either efficient or hygienic ; further, in 
dealing with extra bright or with backward children 
special care should be taken to prevent nervousness and 
arrests. And, lastly, in teaching every school subject 
larger and more permanent results will follow if care is 
taken to use methods which foster health. 



CHAPTER XIII 
LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 

Less Sedentary Programs 
The Hygiene of the Program. Textbooks on school 
hygiene used to insist upon a definite program of sub- 
jects based upon the supposed curve of work. Arithme- 
tic or some '' difficult " subject was placed first in the 
day because the child was supposed to be more capable 
at that time than later. Experiments have proved that 
the curve of energy or ability to work depends upon so 
many factors that it is impossible to fix with surety a 
program based upon it. 

However, all our evidence points to the necessity of a 
balanced program. Subjects which allow or employ 
physical activity and those, like music, which secure re- 
laxation should be alternated with subjects which use 
specific mental powers or those which are confining. 
Monotony retards learning, especially with small children. 
The constant use of a single brain function, as in any 
work requiring mechanical memory, or the use of small 
muscles, as the eye muscles in reading or the finger and 
forearm muscles in writing, should be avoided. Both 
the efficiency of children's learning and their health are 
benefited in this way. But the most common reason for 

291 



292 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

a varied program is to balance seat work, which is con- 
fining to both body and spirit, with work which allows 
for physical relaxation and activity. 

Relaxation Periods. In addition to the arrangement of 
subjects to avoid monotony, overstrain of functions or 
small muscles, and too long sitting, special periods for 
relaxation and light exercise should be provided. These 
are usually placed at the end of every fifteen or twenty 
minutes in the lower grades and at the end of every thirty 
or forty minutes in the upper grades. The relaxation 
period should last from five to eight minutes. A good 
game followed by stretching exercises will make the 
relaxation period both interesting and profitable. In 
the lower grades of many schools rhythmic exercises and 
folk dances are used in these relaxation periods. 

Illustrative Programs. The two programs which fol- 
low were used for a year in the grades indicated. Re- 
sults proved that time was not wasted by the relaxation 
and exercise periods. Both grades covered more work 
than was required in the state course of study. In some 
subjects they finished over three times the amount sug- 
gested in the state course. 

FIRST GRADE 

9 : 00 to 9 : 10 Opening Exercises 

9 : 10 to 9 : 20 Phonics 

9 : 20 to 9 : 25 Rhythm and Folk Dances 

9 : 25 to 9 : 40 Reading 

9 : 40 to 9 : 50 Spelling 

9 : 50 to 10 : 30 Play 




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LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 293 

10 : 30 to 10 : 45 Arithmetic or Numbers 

10 : 45 to 10 : 55 Rhythm and Folk Dances 

10:55 to 11: 15 Reading 

11: 15 to 11:20 Relaxation 

11 : 20 to 11 : 40 Nature Study 

11 : 40 to 12 : 00 Language and Writing 



12 : 00 to 1 

1 : 30 to 1 
1 : 45 to 2 
2 : 05 to 2 



30 Noon Intermission 

45 Art 

05 Music and Rhythm 

20 History 



EIGHTH GRADE (Junior High) 

9 : 00 to 9 : 30 Arithmetic 
9: 30 to 9: 50 Study 

9 : 50 to 10 : 30 Play (dancing for girls and drill for boys 
three days) 

10:30 to 11: 00 English 

11:00 to 11:20 Music 

11 : 20 to 11 : 25 A short game followed by stretching 

exercises 
11:25 to 12: 00 Study 

- 12 : 00 to 1 : 30 Noon 
1 : 30 to 2 : 00 History or Civics 

2 : 00 to 3 : 00 Manual training, metal work, or physics 

for boys, sewing and cooking for girls. 

3 : 00 to 4 : 00 Commercial branches, art, printing, or 

study 

Long Play and Physical Training Periods. It will be 
noted that a forty-minute period each morning is given 
to play and physical exercise in both the first and the 



294 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

eighth grades. Schools are rapidly moving in this direc- 
tion. Play is by far the most important subject in the 
curriculum. Teachers should guard its time even more 
jealously than they have insisted upon full time for arith- 
metic and grammar in the past. The forty minutes a 
day spent in vigorous activity and in learning the hun- 
dreds of lessons which boys and girls must learn to get 
along together must not be regarded as time given to re- 
laxation. Vital and necessary lessons are being learned 
every minute children are together in these more or less 
free periods. Consider^ for example, the following illus- 
tration, the experience of a city superintendent when he 
was a boy in the sixth grade. Hundreds of like experi- 
ences are to be found on every playground in the 
country. 

A Lesson Learned in Play. 

When I was a boy, during the hockey season it was the 
custom to search for sticks with which to play this game. 
When I was about eleven years old, I had a singular experi- 
ence with such a stick. I found it on a fallen peach tree* one 
afternoon, and as soon as I had trimmed it, I knew that I had 
found the perfect hockey stick, the prize in which all boys 
delight even more than in playing the game itself. 

Early the next morning I hurried to school in order to 
exhibit my find. The first boy to arrive was considerably 
older than I, and I prized his judgment very much. I showed 
him my stick. To my surprise and chagrin he did not react 
to it in the way I expected. He lifted it, shook his head, and 
informed me that it was too heavy and commented that peach 
was not a very good wood anyway. 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 295 

Seeing that his words and attitude had had the intended 
effect upon me, he adroitly changed the subject. Then after 
all my interest and ambitions in the fine stick had reached a 
low ebb, he turned to it and offered to ''take it off my hands" 
for ten cents. He, being much larger than I, might be able 
to use it a little. I was willing and the bargain was made. 

As soon as the other boys began to arrive, the boy who had 
purchased my club became the center of attraction. The 
stick was, without doubt, all that I had believed, and he had 
imposed upon my inability to trust my own judgment. Dur- 
ing the entire season the stick which I had found and had 
parted with so foolishly was the idol of every boy in the school. 

This experience taught me a lesson that has been worth 
much more to me than most of the learning I acquired in the 
classroom. It and many others like it have made me socially 
able to take care of myself in all classes of company. I regard 
this ability as essential and fundamental. 

It is not the intention here to discuss the many and 
varied educational values of play. The teacher should 
understand that the modern school is considering very 
seriously its obligation in this respect. Teachers often 
worry about time spent in such a way. The fact that 
much of the old-style arithmetic and practically all of 
the old type of grammar is a waste of time does not seem 
to bother teachers nearly so much as the possibility of 
time being wasted in play. We must all take the stand 
that play is the most vital element in our school program, 
and we must 'ive up to our ideas in this matter by insist- 
ing that the child play as well as study and recite. Many 
educators who have children of their own testify that they 
feel quite doubtful whether they would be benefited by 



296 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

the work of the school if it were not for the social and 
physical development which comes from free association 
during the mornings, noons, and recesses. 

Recesses and Relaxation Periods Promote Efficiency. 
There have been many experiments both in American and 
European schools which illustrate the value of recesses 
to regular subjects in the program. The increased sup- 
ply of oxygen that comes from healthy activity in the open 
air together with the better flow of blood and lymph 
seem to give the child energy for higher achievement. 
Experiments by European investigators have led most 
countries there to adopt a program in which a recess of 
from ten to fifteen minutes follows each school period. 
As far back as 1881 a French law provided for the hour 
being divided into a forty-five-minute recitation period 
followed by a fifteen-minute recess. In 1883 the same 
program was tried in Hessia. In Bavaria in 1891 a like 
plan was adopted. In 1905 the Austrian school deputa- 
tion adopted a plan with a ten-minute recess after each 
school period except the second, which was followed by a 
fifteen-minute recess. In Saxony in 1908 a plan some- 
what like this was adopted, and in 1911 all the schools 
of Prussia were placed under a like regulation. In the 
Danish Folk High Schools a period of one hour each 
morning is given to physical exercise. The tremendous 
influence that these schools are having upon the social 
and intellectual development of rural Denmark would 
indicate that such a scheme does not interfere in any way 
with intellectual growth. 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 297 

Beginning over a quarter of a century ago with Kraape- 
lin, hundreds of experiments have been made to formulate, 
if possible, tabulated evidence of the value of relaxation 
and exercise periods. Thorndike has pointed out that 
many of these experiments were unscientific and that the 
experimenters were wrong in attempting to establish 
general fatigue as the cause of the fall in achievement by 
the pupils when rests were not provided. Whether they 
relieve monotony or fatigue is not important in the pro- 
vision of recesses and relaxation periods. The fact that 
they are essential is evident. Experiments point to un- 
questionable value to the rest of the program of a suitable 
amount of time devoted to play and exercise. Fried- 
rich, Laser, Griesbach, Janusche, and a large number of 
others in Germany ; Burnham and Thorndike in America ; 
Winch in England ; Binet in France ; Schuyten in Bel- 
gium ; Mosso and Bellei in Italy ; Axel Key in Sweden ; 
Teljatnik in Russia; and Burgerstein in Austria are 
scientists who have made careful experiments proving 
the value of recesses to the work done during the regular 
periods. 

Longer Noon Periods. In many schools a noon period 
of only one hour is allowed. In addition to this teachers 
often keep children at school for part of this noon inter- 
mission. When a child must go several blocks, eat his 
lunch, and return to school in this short time, a physical 
and mental strain is likely to result. Since education is 
solely for the children, and' since health is the most fun- 
damental feature of all education, the school cannot afford 



298 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to continue such a practice. In many places and es- 
pecially in schools in the suburbs of large cities the teach- 
ers bring lunches and regard the noon intermission as 
extra time which they are forced to give the schools. 
The shorter they can make it the better it is for them. 
These same teachers dispense with the regular fifteen- 
minute recess whenever they have the slightest excuse, 
and ^^ let out early " in the evening.^ 

In order to enjoy his noon meal leisurely and not have 
to hurry to school just after eating, the child should be 
permitted a full hour and a half at noon. Two hours 
would be better, and the time will probably come when 
school authorities, considering that the health of the 
children is paramount to personal desires of teachers, will 
provide for a full two-hour noon intermission for growing 
children. 

School Furniture Which Stimulates Activity. The 
old-fashioned desks and seats which filled the entire 
room and confined the children in a doubled-up position 
all day are being superseded by movable chairs and mov- 
able tables. These are usually placed around the edge 
of the room and the center is left open for motor activ- 
ities. In this open space the children play games, stand 
or sit on the floor, or gather about the teacher to hear a 
story or to take part in a recitation. These movable 
tables and chairs were first introduced in the kindergarten. 
At present many schools have adopted them for the first 

^ The teacher should never keep a child in at recess for punishment. 
This is injurious and slovenly discipline. Many cities forbid it. 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 299 

grade; a few have them in the first, second, and third 
grades, and one or two schools have the tables and chairs 
through all eight grades. The new adjustable seat and 
desk are not as hygienic as tables and chairs, for the point 
to be emphasized here is that no seat can be constructed 
which will be satisfactory for a growing child to sit in all 
day long. The opportunity for movement must be pro- 
vided. The movable tables and chairs solve this prob- 
lem. They would, of course, be as bad as any seat and 
desk if the children were required to sit in one place for 
long periods. It is the duty of the teacher to see that the 
children do not sit overlong. With proper movable furni- 
ture it is possible to make a program and to use methods 
which stimulate a sufficient activity on the part of the 
children. Hygienic chairs and tables can be purchased 
at less expense than seats and desks. All school sup- 
ply houses have them for sale. Thus there is no reason 
why they should not soon become standard equipment. 

Less Sedentary Methods 

An Experiment with Feeble-minded Children. In 

the school for feeble-minded at Waverly, Massachusetts, 
the experiment of allowing the children to stand or sit 
at their tables while they worked was tried. It was soon 
evident that during the short periods in which they were 
required to work indoors the children preferred to stand. 
After a time none of the children would sit, and the 
classes were conducted standing. This is one of the 
many advantages which feeble-minded children have over 



300 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

normal children. A child should sit only in order to 
rest. As school is maintained in many places to-day the 
children are made lazy by being forced to sit quietly for 
the greater part of the school day. 

School Subjects May Be Taught by Active Methods. 
All the regular subjects taught in our schools at the present 
time may be so organized and treated as to be learned as 
well or better than they have ever been and at the same 
time be far less sedentary. The American teacher has a 
great advantage in having the use of a blackboard. With 
hygienic crayon and erasers half the children may be 
kept working at the board in all subjects which ordinarily 
confine them to their seats. Groups of children may 
gather about the teacher and discuss a lesson, standing as 
well as sitting. Reading and literature lessons may be 
organized into informal dramatizations and from five to 
ten children, according to the number of parts, may be 
allowed to stand and read while they act in movement, 
voice, and gesture the parts they play. 

Illustrations in Arithmetic. Second grade : In learn- 
ing the combinations to twenty, large dominoes, about 
four by eight inches, were used. The teacher made 
them from ordinary inch boards. The spots were about 
one half inch in diameter. The children gathered in 
a circle upon the floor and as each child played he re- 
ceived credit for all the spots on both ends of the column. 
The entire class was responsible to see that he received 
the proper credit. He wrote his credits in a vertical 
column on the board, and at the end of the game, he 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 301 

added his column while the rest of the class gathered about 
him to see that he did it correctly. 

Fourth grade : In the corner of the schoolroom a play 
store with a counter and shelves was located. The shelves 
were suppHed with empty merchandise boxes, and toy 
money was provided for the children. Four clerks and 
four customers could work at a time, and the remainder 
of the children were delegated to be responsible for 
each clerk and his customer. After a few rapid trans- 
actions the clerks and customers were changed. Any 
teacher who tries such a scheme will not only be teach- 
ing in a less sedentary way but will soon see how little 
his regular arithmetic work is functioning when the 
children are asked to make ordinary simple transactions. 
Eighth grade : The teacher made specific plans to use 
the blackboard for half of the class each day. The 
children at the board were assigned special problems 
which brought out their weaknesses so that the teacher 
could correct them. There is little advantage gained 
by merely sending groups to the board. A specific 
plan must be made to utilize the board work to ad- 
vantage. Then the children will be benefited both by 
the less sedentary method and by the organization of 
the work. 

In mensuration work many courses of study call for 
the measuring of the rooms, buildings, and grounds as 
part of the work. This not only makes mensuration 
more concrete but also furnishes arithmetic which does 
not demand constant sitting. 



302 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Informal Attitude in Teaching. Strain is avoided by 
letting the children feel that their unconscious and trivial 
movements are not regarded as important to school 
discipline. A child should feel that he may yawn, stretch 
his muscles, wiggle, or turn around now and then without 
in any way interfering with the work of the teacher or 
that of the school. He should not feel that he must sit 
rigidly in his seat while explanations are being made or 
that he must sit up straight in his seat with his hands 
locked together on his desk when he has finished a task 
and has nothing to do. Just as soon as possible children 
should be allowed to talk to each other when they find 
it necessary. They should understand, of course, that 
they must not interfere with each other's work. A 
child should not have to ask the teacher when he 
wants to borrow a pencil or a knife, or when he finds 
it necessary to leave the room. Discipline should mean 
a feeling of freedom on the part of the children 
and should be positive and not negative or confining. 
It usually takes some time to develop a class or a 
school to this stage of discipline, but there are many 
good schools where it has been achieved. Discipline 
and restraint become minor issues in such schools. 
These schools are more efficient, of course, than the old 
type of school, which makes discipline its largest prob- 
lem. From the standpoint of achievement, discipline 
is merely friction and lost motion. It is more or 
less necessary but should be dispensed with whenever 
possible. 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 303 

Instruction Out-of-doors 

The Necessity for Out-of-door Life. Activity , both 
mental and physical, is at its best when not restrained 
within doors. Man has evolved in the great world out- 
side. His constitution is not made to withstand con- 
tinued confinement. This is especially true during the 
period of formation and growth. The growing child 
should spend every minute he can in the open air, and 
we need not fear for his education if we keep him there 
most of the time. Children naturally love the great world 
out-of-doors. This love is merely the functioning of their 
instincts of self-protection. The increased activity which 
children show when out-of-doors is a good reason for 
carrying on school as much as possible outside of the 
schoolhouse. Many of the magnificent brick school build- 
ings built a few years ago stand to-day as monuments 
of the barbarism which parents and school authorities 
practiced upon growing children. Our modern knowl- 
edge of sanitation condemns them. The great white 
plague is nothing more than the result of overconfine- 
ment. It is worth the consideration of every teacher 
that the most prevalent disease of the teaching pro- 
fession is tuberculosis, occasioned, no doubt, by living 
in schoolhouses.-^ 

If the early training of children has so powerful an 

effect upon them all through life, should we not first of 

all cultivate this love of the out-of-doors which is natural 

to every child ? Should we not strive to fix the outdoor 

1 Terman, L. M. The Teacher's Health. Houghton Mifflin. 



304 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

habit and do everything in our power to cause the child 
to want to live in the open, to find his pleasures there, 
and to acquire learning and health at the same time ? 
Should the school make such an aim the central feature of 
the curriculum, we should soon grow a race that would 
have little need for doctors and patent medicines. 

Sick Children Often Learn Faster and Grow Healthy 
When Taken Out-of-doors. Hundreds of experiments 
with open air schools ^ have proved that sick and un- 
healthy children learn more rapidly and increase in vigor 
when allowed to work in the open air. A university pro- 
fessor says he is able to keep his eight-year-old boy in 
fair health only by insisting upon his playing out-of- 
doors all day Saturday and Sunday. The child comes 
home each Friday evening in a worn-out condition. On 
Mondays his vitality is greatly increased. During vaca- 
tions his health improves greatly. This is a special 
case, it must be admitted, and the ordinary child prob- 
ably goes along without the ill-effects of overconfinement 
coming to the surface. Searching examinations usually 
disclose them, however, and they are all the worse be- 
cause hidden. Teachers can find no excuse for keeping 
children within doors from nine to twelve and from 
one to three except that tradition demands it. 

The open air school is a long step in the right direction. 
It has been used mostly thus far for children who were 
admittedly too sick to undergo the confinement of the 
ordinary school. In every case wonderful improvement 

1 See Watt's Open Air. 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 305 

has been noted. If open air is a good cure for so many 
forms of child ailment, then why is it not a good pre- 
ventive for sickness? Why is it not also the best tonic 
that those who need to grow can have? There is no 
definite way of proving these points experimentally, but 
it seems established that healthy children should do 
more and better work out-of-doors than indoors. 

Out-of-door Teaching Must Be Well Organized and 
Definite. Teachers are likely to find that children can- 
not be managed as easily outside of the schoolroom as 
they can inside of it. This is often due to the fact that a 
pupil often thinks his schoolroom attitude should be 
dropped as soon as he gets outside the door. He is rea- 
sonably willing to study geography, history, and like sub- 
jects so long as he has to stay in a schoolroom, although even 
inside it is not always easy for the teacher ; but as soon 
as the schoolroom is left behind, the lessons studied there 
are to be left behind also. This speaks badly for school 
work, and some persons have described it as being fit 
to exist only when confined within " four brick walls." 
An outdoor class now and then is valuable in this con- 
nection if for no other reason ; children should be made 
to understand that a school subject may be worth while 
out in the sunshine and is in no way confined to work with 
a textbook inside the school building. Class work out-of- 
doors is one of the first steps in making the school con- 
form to the principle that education is life. 

In planning an out-of-door lesson the teacher must 
first of all be sure that every child will have something 



306 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

to occupy him for the entire period. Inside, when a 
child has nothing to do, he can be confined in his seat. 
Out in the open it is impossible to confine him. It is 
much harder to discipline a class out-of-doors than within 
the schoolroom. The inner impulses of the children, 
the many distracting influences of the great world about, 
and the tendency to act differently outside of school 
from inside will all have to be adequately met by the 
plans of the teacher. The following is an illustration of 
a plan of a sixth-grade teacher which succeeded : 

I resolved to take my class out-of-doors where we could 
both be gaining in health and studying nature first hand every 
day that I could adequately conduct the work there. After 
my first attempt at going to find a bird nest which the boys 
knew about, I resolved that I would have ample material 
on hand to keep every child interested and busy during our 
entire trip and that every individual should understand just 
what his duties were before we left the room. I also talked 
with the children about our opportunities to go out-of-doors 
for work now and then and made them realize that if we were 
not alert and busy, persons passing would think that they 
were not receiving proper training. I planned good lessons 
in other subjects, such as arithmetic and English, and said 
that those who did not want to study the subject at hand 
and give attention every minute of the time we were out 
could remain inside and study the regular way. It was 
necessary to require children to remain inside only once or 
twice during the term, but I found that I must plan my 
subject and know it more specifically than when presenting it 
indoors. 

Some illustrative lessons were : 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 307 

Evergreens and conifers : I remembered that in botany 
I had studied some about evergreens and conifers. On my 
way to school I noticed that there were several varieties of 
these trees on some vacant lots right next to the school yard. 
I knew that these trees could be closely connected with the 
geography work, for there were several kinds of pine, they 
probably contained pitch, and they illustrated beautifully 
the struggle for existence, adaptations in leaves and branch 
forms, etc. I was surprised, however, at the amount of study 
it took for me to be able to take the children into this grove 
of trees and teach them first hand. I collected pictures, went 
to the lumber yards and obtained pamphlets and catalogues, 
studied boards, and read in botanies. The work paid, how- 
ever, and I soon collected material to serve for four or five out- 
of-door lessons which resulted in a better acquaintance with 
the children and a great burst of interest on their part in all 
school work. 

We studied the different kinds of conifers and learned to 
tell them apart. We studied and read of the products of 
these trees. We went to a lumber yard and studied the dif- 
ferent kinds of boards. Our reading was much more effective 
as a result. 

Sugar : As a culmination to a study of this industry we 
visited a sugar factory. A man in the community who was 
very well acquainted with all the processes of the manufacture 
of sugar was induced to go along and explain to the class. 

Mushrooms : I noticed that there were many varieties of 
edible mushrooms growing close to the schoolhouse. I ob- 
tained books (there is a government bulletin on mushroom 
culture) and learned to detect the different kinds. I talked 
to the children about them, and one Friday afternoon we went 
to a place where I knew they grew and the children discovered 
and discussed the varieties. During the entire remainder 



308 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

of the year the effect of this trip was evident. The interest 
in mushrooms never entirely died out. Now and then a 
child would ask me a question about them and tell me of some 
new variety or new bed. 

One day I noticed an artist at work painting a scene. This 
gave me an idea : why could not children go out-of-doors to 
do art work now and then. In the spring I carried this plan 
into execution and found that the children responded beauti- 
fully. I later used the same method in English. I took the 
class out into the school yard and told them that they might 
describe something they saw. I had often done this with 
pictures inside the schoolroom and I soon learned that it can 
be done even better by going outside. 

By managing my work in such a way as to make every 
child feel that he was doing even better school work when out- 
of-doors, and by planning definitely and carefully, I was able 
to avoid criticism by the community for my innovation. I 
received many comments of the complimentary type, for I saw 
to it that no one could assert that the class was not in perfect 
order and working diligently every minute that we were out. 
Many persons who would never have seen our work stopped 
to look and listen. 

Illustrations of Outdoor Work in Regular School Subjects 

Geography. In the study of soils, rivers, bays, capes, 
peninsulas, and islands, the teacher will find good illus- 
trative materials in any small stream or rivulet. In 
large cities there may be none near enough to visit, but 
in the majority of schools very little difficulty will be 
experienced in discovering such a stream. This work 
is done out-of-doors in many schools to-day. The 
Iowa State Teachers College recently published a bulle- 




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LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 309 

tin on rural schools in that state with illustrative pictures 
showing country children studying geography first hand. 

If the teacher wants to make the map work in the 
school more impressive, the best way to do this will be 
to increase the size of the maps. The bigger the rep- 
resentation, within limits of use and perspective, the 
better from the child viewpoint. 

If the children will make a map of the United States 
covering their entire school yard, and if they locate the 
most important places with stakes or natural landmarks, 
they will have a more instructive representation than 
could possibly be made on a blackboard. Working 
with this big map, most of the geography of the United 
States can be taught out-of-doors. Rivers, mountains, 
and all natural features can be made. The coast lines 
can be put in with lime such as is used in marking off 
tennis courts and football fields. A sack of air-slaked 
lime and a tin can are all that are necessary for this. Les- 
sons in history and geography can be taught on such a 
map, and the children can be taken out in the yard 
every day for this work. 

Recently a map of the European war zone was de- 
veloped by an eighth-grade class. From Berlin were 
located Paris, London, Petrograd, Warsaw, Lodz, Ant- 
werp, the Kiel canal, all the important British cities, 
Vienna, Rome, and the cities of the Italian earthquake. 
The children learned to work away at their map and did 
not pay any attention to the disturbances which arose 
from people passing by. 



310 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The teacher of this class said that she learned more 
European geography from teaching in this manner than 
she did in any geography class in which she had ever 
studied. The children had excellent notions of relative 
distances and positions, for any one of them could imag- 
ine that he was standing at Berlin, could point to any 
other important European city, and could also give a 
fairly accurate estimate of the distances. If he was told 
to imagine himself at London, Paris, or Vienna, he could 
do as well. This result came from the actual experience 
he had in walking between these places in locating the 
various events of importance that were daily happening 
in the war, and also from the splendid picture of the 
entire continent that the large outdoor map furnished him. 

Ten miles to the yard makes a good scale for such 
work, and all the children should be supplied with yard- 
sticks. If the map is made on a smaller scale, and some- 
times the school yard will demand this, twenty miles to 
the yard makes a good ratio. If the map goes beyond 
the school grounds, the teacher can usually get permission 
to drive stakes. It is better not to put one map upon 
another. The children constantly live with the map, and 
their imagery is confused if two maps are put in the same 
place. For comparison, of course, this may be done. 

One main trouble comes from the work being destroyed 
by the children out of school hours. This may be over- 
come by locating places with stout stakes about six inches 
long. These are driven into the ground until they are 
just visible. It is not necessary to label them, for the 



LESS SEDENTARY PRACTICES AND METHODS 311 

child should know what place the stake represents with- 
out looking at the name. 

Physical geography cannot be taught very well from 
a textbook, and if the relief maps are made out-of-doors 
on a large scale, they will be much more impressive. 
Take, for example, North America. A sixth-grade class 
can construct in a few days a great map forty feet long 
showing all the natural features. Here the main natural 
lay of the land from Alaska to the Panama canal can be 
taken in one grand visual picture. 

History. History work out-of-doors is quite profitable. 
When the large maps are made in geography the children 
may dramatize such historical scenes as are feasible. 
Braddock's Defeat made an excellent outdoor lesson for 
a seventh-grade class. When the boys are making their 
snow forts they can be stimulated to make them repre- 
sent, on a fairly accurate scale, many places that are 
studied in history until they often go beyond all require- 
ments in their study of historical situations to represent. 

In the lower grades Indian life may be represented by 
constructing weapons, tools, clothing, and wigwams out- 
of-doors. 

Nature Study. This subject should be a regular round 
of out-of-door trips. The only way to learn nature is to 
go to her. 

Civics. Trips to water reservoirs where such features 
as drainage, pressure, and hygiene, which had to be 
considered by the authorities in establishing them, may 
be seen and discussed ; trips to local IndustriBl and 



312 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

manufacturing establishments ; trips to civic buildings, 
bring the child in contact with the real civic life of his 
community. They are being used in a great many places. 
Out-of-door Recitations. When warm weather comes 
in the spring, many schools find it profitable to take 
classes outside for study periods and recitations. On a 
hot day a group of children gathered on the grass under 
a tree for an arithmetic drill, a reading lesson, or a story 
is much more in harmony with all, that is best in educa- 
tion than the same group sweating over their tasks in a 
stuffy room. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 

The Inadequacy of the Old Formal Class Instruction. 

The traditional '' class " and the old formal method of 
recitation do not suit the demands of either the individual 
or society. Reforms are necessary from both standpoints. 
The old style class was a failure for the following reasons : 

1. The group was not organized so that social cooper- 
ation and stimulation could be brought into play. The 
class was an artificial organization, based primarily upon 
the time the different members entered school. Their 
aims in Hfe, the social needs of the community, and their 
social instincts were entirely ignored by this artificial 
method of grouping. In teaching the '' class " the teacher 
usually went about " covering " a course of study. It was 
assigned and presented in detail. The result was that 
neither the individual nor any special group received much 

benefit. 

2. Many pupils because of their advanced abilities 
were injured and made lazy by hstening to explanations 
which they did not need. Other individuals, after a 
few attempts, became hopelessly lost because they were 
either slow or unfitted for the work. This feature of the 
class has been hkened by Frederick Burk to the lockstep 

313 



314 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

of prisoners. ^^ There are misfit schools/' he says, 
" misfit texts and studies, misfit dogmas and tradition 
of pedants and pedantry. There are misfit homes, mis- 
fit occupations and diversions. In fact, there are all 
kinds and conditions of misfit clothing for children, but 
in the nature of things there can be no misfit children.'^ 

3. The results of the formal class method of organ- 
ization are few, indefinite, and are unlikely to function. 
Since the child is taught only in the classroom, he usually 
drops what he has learned there when he goes out into 
the real world. 

4. The educational scheme, according to Holmes,^ 
" has been organized to fit the average normal child. 
Until very recently it has never occurred to educators to 
differentiate the educational scheme to fit different de- 
grees of mental endowment." It might be well to add 
that there is no such creature as the average child. The 
average, being the result of a mathematical computation, 
can, of course, apply to no special individual. It is a 
hypothetical term. 

These and many other defects of the traditional formal 
class recitation have led educators and administrators to 
develop methods of teaching and organizing which will 
more nearly reach the ends for which education is de- 
signed. It would almost seem as if the old style or- 
ganization considered that the child and the community 
were made for the school. To-day we are stressing the 
fact that the school must be adjusted to the community 

^ School Organization and the Individual Child. Worcester, Mass,. 



THE INDIVIDUAL^SOCIAL BALANCE 315 

and to the individual as a representative of the com- 
munity. 

Social-Individual Reforms. The traditional class is 
being reorganized along two lines : (l) adjustment to 
individual needs in selection and presentation of school 
work to meet the needs of every child, no matter how 
remote the corner in which he may sit or how different 
he is from the rest of the group ; and (2) the use of natural 
community situations and group life to stimulate greater 
activity and interest on the part of each individual, and 
the cooperation of different individuals in solving prob- 
lems which arise from social needs. 

There is no conflict between social and individual instruc- 
tion. The demand from the social side is that every in- 
dividual be given opportunity to develop along the lines 
in which he may function best both for himself and for 
society. Whatever is best for society is best for the in- 
dividual in the long run, and whatever is best for the in- 
dividual is best for society. This is a very difficult and 
complex piece of educational philosophy to administer. 
But it is so important and its solution is so absolutely 
necessary to the highest success of the school that its com- 
plex nature must not prevent attempts at solutions. Ad- 
ministrators who have felt that they must sacrifice in- 
dividuals to school machinery in the name of society have 
been mistaken, and those who declare that there is no 
need for social adjustments among individuals in training 
are equally wrong. 

The above propositions may be considered by many 



316 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

as attacking a '' man of straw," in that no one of im- 
portance in education has found opposition between 
the individual and society. However, there are differ- 
ent groups who have preached the individual and 
have said little or nothing of socialization, and there are 
many more groups who have talked of society and social- 
ization and have been very vague as to the position of 
the individual in social adjustments. The facts in the 
case should be clearly stated so that no appearance of a 
conflict need occur. Persons who speak of socialization 
should not cease to speak of the need of individualization, 
and the individualists must reciprocate. It is also time 
that the different means of reaching these two ends should 
be considered in relation to each other and practical 
methods presented to the teacher. 

One of the best statements on the individual side has 
been made by a man whose social viewpoint cannot be 
questioned. The following quotations are taken from 
Suzallo's introduction to Thorndike's " Individuality." ^ 

" As a result of these major forces, and of some other 
minor ones at work in our professional thought, the re- 
action against the blight of uniformity in teaching has 
deepened. It has expressed itself positively in the de- 
mand for administrative and instructional means that 
will produce an increased regard for individuality. 

" When the supervision of teachers became as inflexible 
and as unindividual as the teaching of children, the prob- 
lem of individuality in education became an acute profes- 
1 Riverside Monograph. Houghton Mifflin, 1911, p. 56. 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 317 

sional one. Particularly was this true in large city school 
systems, where the mere bigness of the situation obscured 
both the individual teacher and the individual child." 

Factors to he Considered in Individualizing Instruction 

Individual Variations and Differences. One of the 

best summaries of scientific investigations of individual 
differences has been made by Thorndike.^ The extent 
and nature of these differences have been described by 
him in the statement : 

^^ If we could thus adequately describe each of a mil- 
lion human beings — if; for each one, we could prophesy 
just what the response would be to every possible situation 
of life — the million men would be found to differ widely. 
Probably no two out of the million would be so alike in 
mental nature as to be indistinguishable by one who 
knew their entire natures. Each has an individuality 
which marks him off from other men. Each has not 
only a mind, the mind of the human species, but also his 
own specialized, particular, readily distinguishable mind. 
Even in bodily nature, indeed, men differ so much that it 
would be hard to find, amongst a million, two whose 
features are just alike, who are equally susceptible to every 
disease, who have identical bodily habits. The differences 
in intellect and character are far greater.'' 

The various ways in which Thorndike found individuals 
to differ : 

^ Educational Psychology, Vol. 3, and Individuality. Riverside Mono- 
graph. 



318 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

1. Differences in single traits. In this respect in- 
dividuals differ in every trait that is known to the human 
race. In any group of one age, no matter what the pre- 
vious training has been in school, individuals will differ 
all the way from lowest capacity to ten or twenty times 
this amount or quality. 

2. Differences in complex traits. When single traits 
are combined, and this is always the case in mental effort, 
the differences are multiplied in ratio to the complexity 
of the function. 

In school subjects Burk ^ found the following vari- 
ations : In primary reading children in the same grade 
took from 33 to 111 days to complete the "Free and 
Treadwell Primer." Of 75 pupils in the high first grade 
the Progressive Road to Reading, Book I, was finished 
by the most rapid child in 14 days and by the slow- 
est in 180 days. In the low second grade the most 
rapid of 60 pupils finished Brooks' Second Reader in 
17 days while the slowest took 182 days. In the high 
fourth grade the most rapid of 43 pupils completed 
Stepping Stones to Literature, Book 5, in two days while 
it took the slowest 106 days. 

In arithmetic like variations were found. Of 76 pupils 
in the same grade it took the most rapid 15 days and the 
slowest 120 days to complete addition. Of 54 pupils in the 
same grade it took the most rapid 26 days and the slowest 
145 days to complete subtraction and multiplication. 

1 Two Years in Individual Instruction. California State Normal, San 
Francisco. 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 319 

Burk goes on to show that variations as great were 
found in the progress of children in the same grade in 
geography^ in American history, in language, and in gram- 
mar. 

Variations in quality of school work are as great or 
even greater than those in quantity. Thorndike ^ makes 
the following statement, based upon his observations and 
investigations : '^ It is by no means very hard to find seven- 
year-olds who can do intellectual work at which one in 
twenty seventeen-year-olds would fail." 

These large individual differences are not so much due 
to the methods used in school as to outside influences. 
The experimental work of Rice and others has definitely 
shown this fact.^ These differences are due chiefly to 
heredity, while to a lesser extent they are due to outside en- 
vironment. Thorndike has listed statistical studies to 
show that abilities in spelling, art, and music, and judi- 
cial abilities are inherited, and quotes, with slight criti- 
cisms, Pearson's studies which show that vivacity, self- 
assertiveness, introspection, popularity, conscientiousness, 
temper, general ability, and good or bad handwriting 
are inherited and also are influenced to a large extent 
by home conditions. Goddard^ and others have def- 
initely shown that subnormal mentality is inherited, 
and that the school can never bring the feeble-minded 
up to normal. 

1 Educational Psychology, Vol. 3. 

2 Articles in The Forum, Vols. 23, 34, and 35. 

3 The Kallikak Family. 



320 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Stereotyped Work Must Be Avoided. With such 
divergent individual variations within any given class it 
is patent that stereotyped work is sure to injure some 
individuals. Uniform procedure that will not adjust it- 
self to any individual is a drawback to the entire class. 
The child who is slow is likely to be too slow to profit 
by the class work ; the child who is medium does not 
remain the same all the time but is medium or '' average '^ 
because he has been both slow and quick at different 
times ; the child who is a rapid learner is sometimes 
backward in special types of learning, although a very 
few children are found to be advanced in learning ability 
along all lines. Then again the '^ course of study/' 
whatever it may be, will be more difficult in some parts 
than others. All groups will not be able to master it 
in the same manner or at the same rate. These and 
many other factors make it necessary for class require- 
ments to be very flexible. Many teachers are embar- 
rassed when told that they must study their classes 
before they can determine what to teach and how to pro- 
ceed, and some seem to think that a course of study 
obviates any necessity for differentiating the individuals 
of the class. But no course should dominate to this 
extent. 

Work should be done in unison only to the extent that 
there is social betterment as a result. A class in folk 
dancing or in gymnastics may be materially benefited 
by such a method. Religious exercises including read- 
ings and prayer, patriotic exercises, such as saluting the 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 321 

flag, and singing may, of course, be done in concert to 
advantage. Little good is likely to come to children from 
answering problems in drill work, giving definitions in 
grammar, writing, typewriting, learning poetry, or read- 
ing ordinary lessons in this way. 

Illustrations.^ In drill work a teacher gives problems 
and is answered by the class as follows : 9 add 8 add 7 
add 7 subtract 5 subtract 4 subtract 1 add 7 add 3 mul- 
tiply by 3 subtract 45. Children give answer in unison. 
In answering the bright, accurate children will lead 
and the others will chime in. If such work is to be ad- 
vantageous, the teacher should call upon one person to 
give his answer and then ask others to compare with him. 
Even in this case there is a great chance for the lazy in- 
dividual, the one who needs the practice, to ignore the 
work and, when called upon, give a chance answer 
and, when not called upon first, agree with someone in 
the class who is usually right. In every case where 
such an oral drill is used the teacher should work to see 
that the rapid, medium, and slow workers are called 
upon in rapid succession. Even then, it will not afford 
drill in speed to the rapid workers, for if the work is given 
slowly enough for the remainder of the class, it will be 
too easy for the few who are superior in this line of ac- 
tivity. Such a drill cannot be relied upon to develop 
accuracy, for it is rarely possible to discover wherein the 

^ It is not the intention to give many bad practices for illustrations. 
We should stress what is right. However, teachers often persist in some 
types of work which are bad, thinking that they are illustrating advanced 
theory. 



322 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

child who is wrong makes his mistakes. Its value lies in 
the stimulation afforded a sluggish group. • 

This is the kind of problem that is most often 
used in oral arithmetic drills. Instead should be sub- 
stituted such problems as, 15 add 9, 50 subtract 14, 
$1.00 subtract 13 cents, 20-|- multiply by 1, etc. Or- 
dinary purchases of groceries, dry goods, gasoline, etc., 
involve such calculations. The rapid children may be 
helped by scoring the time it takes to get the answer. 
We thus have drill in speed for everyone. The processes, 
being simple, do not allow the slow child to become lost. 
Accuracy should be scored, and the drill is not so com- 
plex as to prevent a child or the teacher from discovering 
where a mistake is made. A good way to insure every- 
one an opportunity for a score in accuracy, which is much 
more fundamental than speed, is to supply each child 
with a slip of paper upon which he writes his answers. 
At the end of the drill period the correct answers are read 
by the teacher. Every child may grade his own results, 
or the papers may be exchanged and checked. In this 
way a teacher may soon discover special individual weak- 
nesses. If a child continually fails on a problem involv- 
ing the multiplication of a small common fraction, he 
may be furnished drills for this sort of error. 

Written arithmetic drill may be considered in the same 
way. A teacher puts several long addition problems 
upon the board. These should involve practical and 
useful figures such as may be found in grocery bills. 
The rapid children solve five of the problems, the "aver- 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 323 

age " child solves three^ and the slow child solves two. 
In every case, accuracy is scored, and those who make 
mistakes are required to discover them and bring in, cor- 
rectly solved, any problems in which mistakes were made. 

Teachers often make the mistake of calling for answers 
when only four or five of a class of twenty or thirty have 
finished. This, of course, is an injury to the majority. 

It might be said that the child who is able to solve five 
problems in a drill lesson while the remainder of the 
class is solving three gets practice which he does not need. 
However, this depends upon the standard to be attained. 
When he reaches this standard, and the Courtis stand- 
ard is a fairly good one for fast workers (although no 
school should insist that the slow children reach it), he 
should be excused from drill and be allowed at this 
time to occupy himself with work which will be more 
beneficial to him. 

Drill in spelling often fails to accomplish very much 
because the individual is not provided with proper stimu- 
lation and exercise. The old method of pronouncing a 
word which is then spelled in unison by the class does not 
get very far. A method which requires every child to 
attend to every word and its special peculiarities is to 
write it on a flash card (any ordinary card large enough 
so that all may see the entire word) with the peculiar 
parts underlined as follows : sep a rate. This is exposed 
for a period long enough for every child to get a good 
visual picture of it. The card is then removed and the 
class pronounces and spells the word in unison. Fol- 



324 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

lowing this, each child writes it and underlines the peculiar 
part. The words are then collected and corrected by the 
teacher. Every child has to give close attention to the 
flash cards else he cannot write his word correctly. 
After being corrected; they are returned to the class for 
study, the flash-card presentation being the assignment. 
The grade in spelling should be based upon correct writ- 
ing the first time as well as in the final test. 

Two other stereotyped practices which are quite 
common are : 

(l) A few bright children often are allowed to receive 
most of the training by teachers who call upon only those 
who volunteer or upon whom they can " depend." (2) 
The conscientious teacher may constantly allow the 
slow children to take up the time while nothing is pro- 
vided for the more rapid workers. 

Saving of Waste by More Individual Methods. There 
are several types of saving other than that directly con- 
nected with the individuals in the classes. One of these 
is the saving to the community by cutting down un- 
necessary expenses. Money is saved by using more in- 
dividual methods in the following ways : 

1. Waste from retardation is eliminated. It costs as 
much money to send a child through a grade the second 
or third time as it does the first. His parents are immedi- 
ately affected by being forced to maintain him in school 
every extra year it takes him to graduate. The entire 
community must pay more taxes whenever the number of 
repeaters reaches the point where extra teachers are 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 325 

necessary. In a school system of one thousand children 
twenty-five per cent retardation will mean that 250 
children are being taught a second time. This will un- 
doubtedly require additional teaching force, and if it is 
not supplied, greater inefficiency than ever will result 
from the large and heterogeneous classes which result. 
Then there are the books, seats, and floor space, which 
must be maintained for these extra pupils. Ayres ^ has 
calculated that in 29 cities which he studied, repetition of 
grades required 98,000 extra years of instruction. At 
$29.27, the average annual cost of schooling a child in 
the United States, it will cost these cities a total of 
$2,868,400. 

It is obvious, therefore, that a teacher who is able so 
to treat a backward child that he is promoted when 
he might have failed accomplishes a direct saving to the 
community. There is also a direct saving every time a 
child is enabled to complete a course in less than the regu- 
lar time. Since Burk has demonstrated that most 
children may finish the eight grades in from five to seven 
years if they are given proper individual attention, it 
would appear that from one to three years is being lost in 
most places. 

Burk goes on to show that in the old system (the one 
that is still in common use) there is waste due to '^ fric- 
tion," in attempting to teach all children what only a 
few have occasion to learn, that the size and capacity of 

^ Russell Sage Foundation Report, Effect of Promotion Rates on School 
Efficiency, 1912, pp. 13. 



326 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

the school plant could be greatly reduced by the use of 
more individual methods, and that there is a great and 
unmeasurable quantity of waste in the class system. 

Some Advantages to the Children of More Individual 
Methods. The saving to the community is not nearly 
so important in teaching as is the advantage gained by 
the children from special methods employed. The 
child who must " repeat '' and the one who finds that 
he cannot do what is expected of him are injured. 
The bright child who is held back may lose his bright- 
ness. Therefore, even though promotion may not be 
accelerated on account of administrative policy, attention 
to the needs of individuals will have large results. Some 
of these are : 

1. Independence and confidence on the part of the 
children. By doing more work by himself and by think- 
ing out his problems without the help or stimulation of 
other children, a child soon learns to overcome obstacles 
which before such training would have appeared impos- 
sible to him. This is the ability which the old un- 
graded district school and life on the farm gave the coun- 
try boy a generation ago, and which made him a leader in 
our city life to-day. In being required to work by himself 
and to get results before the teacher came his way again, 
he accomplished many feats alone which might have 
been explained to him. It must be admitted that most 
of the practices of the old ungraded school were bad, but 
the necessity for independent work on the part of the 
pupils was one of its saving qualities. 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 327 

2. Thoroughness is practiced. If the child is sure 
that what he does is to receive attention, rather than be 
looked upon as a part of an agglomeration and never 
followed to its source, he is bound to feel responsible for 
completing his tasks. It can be readily seen that in il- 
lustrations of drill methods which are too general, given 
in the first part of this chapter, the child is soon likely to 
acquire the habit of not finishing his work. 

3. Increased interest due to the fact that the work 
selected is of vital importance to each individual. When 
the child knows that he is studying words which he does 
not know how to spell and which he is very certain to 
need ; that he is practicing in arithmetic problems which 
are important in life and which he needs to solve because 
he does not have sufficient speed or accuracy in them ; 
or that he is studying and reading in history books which 
interest him and which he should read in order to be a 
better citizen, his interest and efforts will surely be in- 
creased. When we add the definite goal of completion 
(as has been suggested for writing, spelling, and arith- 
metic in a previous chapter), and the child realizes that 
when he makes a score of 70 on the Ayres scale in writ- 
ing, that when he does not misspell in his written work 
in spelling, and that when he reaches certain standards 
in the fundamentals of arithmetic he will be excused 
from drills in these subjects and will be allowed to turn to 
more vital and possibly more interesting work, his in- 
terest and efforts are likely to be increased anew. And 
when in addition to this it is possible to adjust school 



328 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

machinery so that a child may complete more than one 
grade in a year, the question of interest, especially among 
the brighter children, should no longer be a problem. 

Factors in the Socialization of Instruction 

Advantages of Social Stimulation and Cooperation. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that individual in- 
struction is based entirely upon the relation of the in- 
dividual to his school work. While this view is very 
important, and, as has been explained, is bringing about 
reforms in some places which will sooner or later come 
everywhere, there is also another large factor in education 
which must be taken into consideration. This is the 
relation of the individual to the rest of society and 
his education for social efficiency. What he may learn 
in school is important only as he can use it in cooperation 
with other human beings. That " no man liveth to him- 
self '^ was never more true than it is to-day. The social 
viewpoint includes the individual in his relation to sub- 
ject matter and adds the factor of his ability to wield 
himself and his accomplishments in a social world. 
There are two important advantages of socialization of 
instruction. They are : 

1. The individual can often do more and better work 
under proper group organization than he can when work- 
ing alone. Triplett has tabulated some definite results 
of experiments which show this.^ In a task as simple 
as turning a crank he discovered that a child will do 

VDynamogenic Factors, Am. J. P. Vol. 9, 1898, pp. 507-533.. 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 329 

better and more rapid work when working with some- 
one else. If competition was very strenuous, the major- 
ity of children tested did much better than when work- 
ing alone, while a few became nervous, over-rigid, and 
less capable under the strain. This does not indicate 
that children should never be subjected to this kind of 
trial, but rather that the slow, uninterested but capable 
child may be aroused to do his best through proper 
competition, and that the nervous, easily overcome in- 
dividual will be helped to take his rightful place in society 
by a wise use of competition by his teacher. The fact 
that he quits in a race is an indication that he needs 
training in holding his own and in being able to put 
forth his best efforts in crucial situations. Holmes ^ and 
Montessori ^ have questioned the use of competition in 
education because of the ordinary unwise practices which 
make it the center of all school activities. They have 
substituted individualization and cooperation in tasks, 
and, although it would be a mistake to eliminate com- 
petition from educational work, there is little question 
that children may be compared with each other too 
much. 

2. Social cooperation. This helps the individual in 
learning and is an essential feature of life which must be 
developed by education. Back of social cooperation is 
first of all the simple principle that two heads are better 
than one. In the content subjects this is especially true. 

1 What Is and What Might Be. Dutton, N. Y. 

•2 The Chapter on DiscipUne in the Montessori Method. 



330 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The class becomes a social gathering which has for its 
purpose the discussion of some problem, project, inter- 
est, or need of the individuals who make up the group. 
When properly managed such a class becomes a natural 
group in contrast to artificial class. The children have 
mutual sympathies and interests. All of them do not 
prepare the same lesson. They do not read from the 
same book at the same time or " keep the place " while 
one of their number reads. Each individual feels his 
strength because he is an asset to the class. He has 
prepared and brought something to it which the others 
do not know. Of course they all prepare the general 
assignment in order to be able to understand what is in- 
volved in the discussion, but in addition each one of 
them brings something of value as his contribution. When 
such a class gathers for a recitation, the essential for 
profitable cooperation is that each child present something 
which is both interesting to him and of use toward furthering 
the project in which the group is interested. In contrast 
to this method the old-fashioned recitation has been 
called " a penal inquisition to discover whether or not 
little Billy obediently memorized his lesson." Unques- 
tionably the method of calling upon children merely to 
discover whether or not they have done some required 
task is fruitless. The remainder of the class have noth- 
ing in common with the one who is reciting. If they have 
studied their lessons, they know what he has to say before 
he says it. If he has difficulty, they are all the more 
disinterested. His personal contortions to escape the 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 331 

wrath of the teacher may arouse the sympathies of the 
rest of the group, but httle will be gained by them from 
undergoing such an experience. 

The greatest happiness comes to him who has become 
a vital social influence for good. When the child finds 
that he is relied upon by his companions, that they re- 
gard him and his service as an asset, and that he is a 
power in the social world, he begins to realize upon the 
capital he has invested in education. 

The increased efforts and more lasting results through 
socialization are revealed in an experiment in teaching 
arithmetic made in St. Louis by W. C. Reavis.^ 

'' A mock bank was organized," he says, '^ in which 
each member of a class studying stocks became a stock- 
holder. Certificates of stock and other commercial forms 
connected with banking were worked out and printed 
on the school press. These certificates were then sold 
in different denominations to the different members of the 
class. This stock was sold at market quotations which 
were listed on a bulletin board by officials at different 
times during the recitation. The pupils thus became 
conversant very quickly with the terms used in stock 
transactions and understood the effect of changes in prices 
on the value of their personal stock already purchased. 

^^ Problems in buying and selling were next under- 
taken by the class, and the results worked out first for 
the individual directly concerned in the transaction and 

^ Social Motive in Teaching Arithmetic. Elementary School Journal, 
October, 1917, pp. 264-267. 



332 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

then for the corporation. The newspaper quotations 
were carefully noted in this connection, and hypothetical 
problems were made up and discussed by the class. When 
purchases and sales were made and dividends or deficits 
declared the appropriate commercial forms were used 
in completing the transaction. This afforded excellent 
practice in the use of conventional forms, such as deposit 
slips, checks, and notes." 

The factors in socialization in the above work are : (l) 
the entire class was united into a corporation or natural 
group, (2) they were studying subject matter which has 
large social value (everybody in these days of corporation 
should know the methods, advantages, and disadvan- 
tages of incorporated enterprises), (3) the problems were 
made up by the class. There would have been no dis- 
advantage if the teacher as a sort of senior member in 
the corporation had also taken part in making up the 
problems. Teachers of classes which have not been 
socialized before will find that they will need, at least for 
a time, to become active coworkers with the children. 
As the work progresses, the children will show more 
initiative and will not need so much leadership if they 
have been helped in the right way. 

The illustration above was also well motivated and an 
excellent project. 

Following this work a test was given. " The problems 
were taken from the Stone and Southworth Arithmetic, 
Book 3, p. 194. The time was arbitrarily set at twenty- 
five minutes, and work stopped when time was called.'^ 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 333 

The following are the problems : 

1. What is the market value of 35 shares of North 
Western stock at 43 J per cent above par? 

2. What would be the value of the same stock if sold 
at the same rate below par? 

3. I receive a stock dividend of $1728. This is at the 
rate of 14f per cent on the par value of my investment. How 
much of the stock do I own ? 

4. A man exchanges 170 shares of stock worth 103 
in the market for a cottage on the seaside valued at $8510. 
The difference was made up in mill stock at a par value of 50 
per share. How many shares were there? Leave brokerage 
out of the account. 

5. A gentleman bought 1200 shares of railroad stock at 
115 and was glad to sell it at 58. What did he lose? 

6. The Atlantic Steamship Company is capitalized 
at $8,000,000. The receipts for the year are $16,400,000. 
The expenses are $14,800,000, $600,000 is put into a reserve 
fund and the remainder distributed as a dividend. What 
rate per cent of dividend was declared ? 

7. How many hundred dollar shares of mining stock 
can be bought at 188 for $3750, and what sum will remain? 
(Parts of a share are not sold.) 

8. I receive $2133 as the net profits of stock bought 
at par and sold at 107. How many hundred dollar shares 
were sold, allowing } brokerage? 

9. My broker paid me $8585 which he had received for 
Old Colony railroad stock sold for me at f brokerage. How 
many shares did he sell at 215? 

10. In the N. Y. stock market 50,000 shares of railroad 
stock were bought at a premium of 22|, and sold the next day 
at a premium of 26f. The brokerage in each case being |, 
required the profits. 



334 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The problems have been given here to illustrate their 
difficulty. It is often contended that socialized methods 
are ^^ play methods " and do not call for hard work. 
The teacher must not make the mistake of allowing 
the work to become easier and the children should not be 
allowed to follow their passing whims. Socialized work, 
like all the other modern innovations, should result in 
more and better results as measured by any acceptable 
standard. 

'^ The class work was completed March 15, 1917/' 
to quote further, ^^ and the foregoing test was given 
March 16. There were 28 pupils in the class. Of these 
21 were present and took the test. Fifteen pupils worked 
all the problems correctly in twenty-five minutes, two 
pupils had nine right out of nine attempts, one pupil 
had eight right out of nine attempts, and three had seven 
right out of seven attempts." 

The lasting influence of the work is shown by the same 
test being given on September 5, 1917, following an in- 
terval of 90 days in school, during which time no atten- 
tion had been given to stocks, and a vacation of 80 days. 
Of the fifteen pupils who had ten rights out of ten at- 
tempts, thirteen again made perfect scores in the same 
time, one fell to eight rights out of eight attempts, and 
one was not present to take the test. One pupil raised 
his score from seven rights out of seven attempts to nine 
rights out of nine attempts, one from seven rights out of 
seven attempts to eight rights out of eight attempts, one 
from eight rights out of nine attempts to nine rights out 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 335 

of nine attempts, one changed from nine rights out of 
nine attempts to nine rights out of ten attempts, and one 
who was absent from the first test made a score of nine 
rights out of nine attempts. 

Such remarkable results are in evidence in many places 
where real concrete work is given and group activity used 
as a motive. 

The following statement taken from the aims of the 
Francis Parker School will illustrate this principle as 
applied in active school work. '' The demands of good 
citizenship require that the school gradually develop in 
the child a growing social consciousness. The self-cen- 
tered individual of the kindergarten and primary grades 
should become, as the school years pass by, more respect- 
ful and appreciative of the rights of others and more 
sympathetic and tolerant towards those of various tem- 
peraments and conditions of life. 

" To realize this development in the pupils there should 
be provided, in increasing amount throughout the years 
of school life, opportunity for the child to think less of 
himself as an individual and more of the community as 
a whole, of which he forms but a single unit. Condi- 
tions calling for unselfish social service on the part of 
the pupils should be consciously created by the school ; 
service which has a cooperative and community in- 
terest. These opportunities should be given, (a) in the 
classroom, (b) in the school community as a whole, (c) 
in the larger community outside the school. This 
means that interest in social service on the part of the 



336 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

pupil should gradually expand throughout the school 
course. At first his social horizon is bounded by the 
walls of his classroom, then there dawns a consciousness 
of duties and responsibilities to the school community. 

" The standpoint should gradually change from one 
of selfish interest in society for the sake of what it can 
contribute toward individual pleasures to the realization 
of the duties and responsibilities to society for the sake 
of greater pleasure and benefit to all." 

And it might well be added that the surest way for the 
individual to become powerful and successful is to use 
his intellect in such a way that the social group may 
realize benefits from his work. He must learn how to 
clothe and market his ideas and discoveries before he can 
realize upon them, and in the final evaluation of the efforts 
of men it is found that long practice in " putting their ideas 
across/^ in not only having good ideas but in being able to 
influence others by using and expressing them properly, is 
one of the crucial features of education. 

The illustration previously given of socialized arith- 
metic practiced in St. Louis is one in which cooperation 
among the children was the dominant motive. 

Social Needs Are as Important as Those of the In- 
dividual. The work of the school should be directed to 
the solution of social needs even while it is taking care 
of the needs of the individual. Social needs are those 
which arise from the demands of the world, the govern- 
ment, the state, the city, and the community. In 
adjusting itself to society the school uses methods and 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 337 

selects subject matter which solve social problems. 
The old type of school in rural communities often de- 
veloped in the children a dislike for their home environ- 
ment and made them want to migrate to the cities. The 
schools in the cities often made poor professional men of 
boys who had good abilities in mechanical Hues or, if 
they could not become doctors, lawyers, preachers, or 
teachers, the teaching they received in school made them 
dissatisfied with their lot, and as a result they were poor 
workmen and poorer citizens. 

It is now fairly well understood that arithmetic, geog- 
raphy, EngHsh, history, vocational subjects, and all the 
others must be taught in such a way as to help in the solu- 
tion of social problems. For illustration consider arith- 
metic : the boy on the farm should be made a better, hap- 
pier, and more contented farmer by taking arithmetic in 
the rural or consoHdated school. He should be led to 
see that alfalfa, potatoes, apples, hens, hogs, turkeys, 
geese, etc., provide him with delightful arithmetic prob- 
lems.' He should learn that wheat, hay, corn, and 
food of any kind that is a product of his father's farm is 
furnishing problems in the pits and stock markets of all 
the world, and that the modern farmer may be the equal 
of any man in any calling or profession so far as being 
mathematically scientific and expert goes. He should 
learn of and work out in his own problems ; the taxes which 
his father pays on crops that are in storage, on his farm, 
on his horses, cattle, and other live stock, on his automo- 
bile, and on his bank account, and he should learn from 



338 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

problems involving accurate statistics just where the 
money derived from these taxes goes. He should also be 
led to discover that insurance^ weights and measures, 
fractions, decimals, interest, percentage, and mensuration 
are all vitally connected with life on the farm. At regu- 
lar intervals the problems should be taken from the home 
community, and they should be problems vital in real 
situations. 

This is socialization of arithmetic in a rural commu- 
nity. It is being accomplished in many places. In the 
city the same type of work may he done. How this is ac- 
complished in Indianapolis has already been described in 
the chapter on The Problem Method. Other subjects 
may be socialized in the same way. History, civics, and 
geography should be based throughout upon the home 
community ; and the truths learned of the home com- 
munity, state, and nation should be a constant basis for 
comparisons with what exists or is happening in more 
distant places. This is as necessary for spelling, art, or 
sewing as for geography. There are definite commu- 
nity situations involved in the teaching of every branch 
of the curriculum. These must be utilized. As a result 
the child not only becomes a larger individual but he is 
also a better citizen of his home community, he lives a 
larger and a more interesting home life, and the com- 
munity as a whole is made richer. 

Illustration of Social Failure as the Result of School 
Practices. The following quotation is an illustration of 
how education has been ruinous to many communities : 



THE INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL BALANCE 339 

Now upon a journey through rural New England you shall 
see fine old mansions, showing by their architecture that 
they date back well towards the beginning of the nineteenth 
century, and ample old homesteads with their spacious barns, 
all of them more or less in a state of decay. Of m.any, nothing 
but the cellar hole and an, at first sight, unaccountable orchard 
is left. These were the homes of a race which lived and pros- 
pered, which cleared the land, and built homes, and added 
barn to barn, which accumulated wealth, and gave virile 
expression of itself in church, in state, and in educational 
institutions. But that race all allowed its sons and daughters 
to he educated away from the farm, the country, and from the 
state. In their place today we too often have a dwindling 
town, a neglected farm, a closed church, an abandoned school- 
house.^ 

In every subject he teaches it is the duty of the teacher 
to assist in enlarging and welding together the life of the 
community in which he works, be it a large city, a suburb, 
a village, or a rural district. Education, culture, refine- 
ment, and ambition are best when they play a part in 
the life of the home and of the home community. 

Relation of Individual Instruction to Socialized Instruction 

In giving an individual-social balance to the work of 
the school, the teacher must work with the following 
principles in mind : 

1. Every individual is different in every trait or com- 
bination of traits from every other individual. 

2. Both for the sake of the individual and for the wel- 
fare of the community the strong points in each in- 

1 U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 20, 1912. 



340 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

dividual which are of social or individual value should be 
developed and made stronger. 

3. The economic and social independence of its in- 
dividuals is fundamental to the growth of any com- 
munity. 

4. Therefore, when a teacher helps an individual to 
become larger and stronger and more independent, he is 
also helping the entire community. 

5. Not only the independence of individuals but also 
their cooperation is necessary. It is necessary for both 
individual and community success. The school must 
give constant training in cooperation. 

6. When working in cooperation with others or in 
competition with them, the individual can do more and 
better work if the group is wisely managed. In all such 
work the teacher must he the stimulating and guiding force. 
The results will be entirely dependent upon how he or- 
ganizes and directs either individuals or groups. 

7. In every recitation and in every assignment the 
teacher should seek to make the individual a better 
citizen, citizenship being looked upon in its broadest 
sense. As a result of his life at school the child should 
live upon a higher plane outside of school. He should 
have more insight into the affairs of his home and com- 
munity ; he should be able to hold his own in competition 
with others ; he should know how to cooperate with them 
both to the advantage of himself and of those with whom 
he works. 



CHAPTER XV 

METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK TO 
INDIVIDUAL NEEDS 

There are five specific features of school organization 
involved in adjusting work to the individual child. All 
the adjustments are, of course, based upon the general 
assumption that it is the duty of the school to foster in- 
dividuality and to make every term, day, and recitation 
that a child spends in school of vital importance to his 
growth and education. 

1. It is, first of all, necessary that the teacher con- 
stantly study the general and special features in the 
nature and life of each child. This study is made the 
basis of all the rest of the instruction and discipline of 
the individual. 

2. Methods of conducting recitations which reach 
every individual are necessary. 

3. Assignments must be made with the needs and 
special nature of each child in view. 

4. School requirements and the course of study must 
be adjusted to meet the needs of each child. 

5. Promotions, school organization, and school machin- 
ery must be flexible. 

341 



342 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Studying the Individual and Adjusting Work to His Needs 

The Attitude of Leading Schools. There can be no 
doubt that the desire to reach the needs of the individual 
is general and plays a part in the plans of every con- 
scientious administrator. However^ it is only in schools 
of the most modern type that anything like successful 
application of the idea is found. 

The Francis W. Parker School gives as one of its 
basic principles adjustment to individuals and the de- 
velopment of individuality. In the 1916-1917 yearbook 
we find : 

In the first place in order to preserve the individuality 
of the children and to enable this individuality to express 
itself most variously, and thus to provide a richer life for the 
child, special attention is given to each pupil in order to make 
him capable of the largest measure of physical, mental, and 
moral growth. That is to say, the unit is the single pupil, 
not the class ; work is adapted to each child according to his 
own actual needs and powers, not to the ''average" child 
of the grade or group. Tasks are not prescribed for the mass, 
regardless of the special needs of the several individuals com- 
posing the mass. 

In San Francisco Burk has worked out a scheme of 
instruction which does away with class work. He calls 
the old-style class instruction '' the millstone that hangs 
about the neck of the school system." His new method 
has been given several years trial and is reported to be 
quite successful.^ 

* Lockstep Schooling and a Remedy. San Francisco, 1913. 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 343 

Dr. McCready, director of Wildwood Hali in Pitts- 
burgh, makes the following statement concerning his 
study of individuals : 

In private practice 1 make it a rule in all except evident 
cases to give nothing except a tentative opinion without 
at least a three months' period of study and observation. It 
not infrequently happens that I find it necessary to revise 
early impressions almost completely and to differ radically 
with the " snap diagnoses" of previous observers.^ 

This statement comes from a man who deals with only 
the abnormal or at least backward child. If he finds a 
three months' study of the individual necessary in order 
to diagnose his case, then surely it is necessary for a 
teacher to study a normal individual in every way pos- 
sible in order to be of greatest help to him. 

L. W. Mayberry of Wichita, Kansas, in discussing in- 
dividual work in that city says : ^^ If something can be 
done to individualize the responses which are to become 
automatic, less class and individual drill will be neces- 
sary. If the teacher will plan to check up the individual 
achievement of each pupil on the facts presented for 
drill and to segregate these failures about once each 
week, the results will be a surprise to most teachers. 
When the pupil knows what his particular problem is, 
and when he knows that his teacher and classmates 
know it, he will be more inclined to attack and solve 
his problem." ^ 

1 Education, Sept. 1917, p. 4. 
2Elem. Sch. Jour., Nov. 1917, p. 133. 



344 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

Methods of Studying the Individual.^ In studying the 
individuals in his classes the teacher must not be in a 
hurry. The most valuable information is of a private 
nature, and it cannot be acquired by a series of ques- 
tions ; the child himself is unconscious of many of his 
individual peculiarities. It is often best not to call his 
attention to them. The following are some of the im- 
portant factors which should be investigated as soon as 
possible : 

1. Is the individual vital and up to normal physi- 
cally f Many children in school are suffering from ail- 
ments which are not known to their teachers. First of 
all the vision, hearing, and condition of the nose and 
throat should be known. Where there is no school 
physician or nurse, the teacher should investigate any 
case that seems suspicious and advise medical attention 
where necessary. In some states the law requires such 
preliminary inspection by the teacher. The condition of 
the teeth is important. If the child has decayed teeth, 
toothache, or teeth that are not cleaned regularly, he 
may be benefited, even to the extent of an entire re- 
versal of attitude, by having his teeth taken care of. 
Headaches, indigestion, malnutrition, rheumatism, and 
even heart disease may be the cause of the backwardness 
of a child. The necessity of becoming as familiar as pos- 
sible with the physical nature of each child cannot be 
stressed too much. In being ignorant of a physical 

* Every teacher should read The Study of the Behavior of the Indi- 
vidual Child, by J. T. McManis. Warwick & York, Baltimore, 64 pp. 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 345 

peculiarity or defect in a child the teacher is liable to 
make mistakes in directing him. The parents should be 
asked to have the child undergo a complete physical 
examinalion by a physician. It is often possible to have 
this done when he is called to the home to take care of 
some minor ailment. The expense factor is partly elim- 
inated in this way. 

2. Over and under age. If a child is younger or older 
than the average in his grade, it is important to know 
just why he is accelerated or retarded. Knowing his 
case in its entirety the teacher may be able to help 
the bright child to advance even more rapidly, and he 
may be able to do much for the one who is retarded. 
Very often retardation is due to misunderstanding, in- 
justice, or the clash of personalities in which a child 
usually comes off second best. Both the accelerated 
and the retarded child are in positions different from the 
rest of the class. They need special investigation. This 
does not imply that every other child should not have 
individual attention. 

3. The attitude of the individual towards his fellows and 
their attitude toivards him both in and out of school. This 
is important for several reasons. A nervous child may 
be made worse by being teased and bullied. One who 
is not interested in the school may reverse his attitude 
after being placed in the right social atmosphere. 

4. The home life and opportunities. The teacher can- 
not know too much about the child's home environ- 
ment. The education of the father and the mother, the 



346 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

salary or income, the ideals of the home, the home duties 
of the child, opportunities for improving reading, the kind 
of food that is served, how he sleeps (window open, open 
air, windows closed, by himself, in the same room or bed 
with others), are father and mother both living, does 
mother work outside the home, etc. The teacher should 
never visit the home for the mere purpose of investi- 
gating. Regular teachers with full work, especially in 
cities, should not think of taking on this extra burden. 
Home conditions can usually be quite accurately deter- 
mined through casual conversations with the child, 
through his compositions, and from accidental state- 
ments. The parents should be urged to come to school 
during the regular session at least twice during the year. 
A wise teacher will learn as much from the parent about 
the child's home life as the parent does about his school 
on these visits. 

5. Special interests and capacities. Any special abil- 
ities which are of value should be watched and their 
exercise encouraged. Children who are backward in 
school may become even brilliant if attention is given to 
their interests and capacities which lie outside of school 
requirements. Such children are often merely discour- 
aged because of a few difficulties at school. When they 
learn that the things they like to do outside of school are 
considered of value by the teacher their self-confidence is 
increased. By asking a child to explain his stamp col- 
lection, his rabbits, pigeons, or chickens, his wireless, a 
fishing or hunting trip, or something else of vital im- 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 347 

portance to him, a teacher may gain his confidence and 
increase his interest in and respect for the school. It is 
the duty of every teacher to advise and inspire each child to 
work along lines which will lead him to economic and social 
success. By looking for his strong points and indicating 
their value the teacher may often start a child to working 
along lines which will ultimately mean success in life 
for him. Anyone who reads the biographies of great men 
and studies the influences in their childhood which made 
for their final successes will be impressed by the value of 
such advice and suggestion. 

Individualization of the Recitation 

There are two vital elements to the individualization 
of the recitation. First, every child should have some- 
thing to do during the entire recitation. Various mem- 
bers of the class should not be allowed to remain idle 
while attention is being given to others. Second, the 
work should be adjusted to the different individual 
needs. It is possible only to approach these ideals in an 
ordinary recitation, but attention given to them is likely 
to bring about great improvement. 

The Number of Times Pupils Recite. The proper dis- 
tribution of the recitation time among the twenty or thirty 
different individuals in an average class is very difficult. 
Here is a problem worthy of the best thought and atten- 
tion the teacher is able to give. Anyone observing 
ordinary recitations will soon see how inadequate they 
are from this standpoint. Four or five children usually 



348 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

do the work^ while the others either follow or give no at- 
tention whatever. This can, of course, furnish no train- 
ing to the majority. The teacher must use every effort 
to see that every individual is furnished some kind of train- 
ing in every recitation. 

The amount of talking that is done by the teacher is 
important in this connection. Even the best of teachers 
admit that they talk too much and allow too little oppor- 
tunity for the children to recite. A number of careful 
investigations have revealed the truth of this statement. 
A principal or superintendent who will have some ap- 
parently casual observer (but who in reality is a short- 
hand reporter) take down everything that is said in a 
few classes can easily convince his teachers that there is 
ample room for improvement in the best of recitations. 

'^ Wilson, '15, cites the investigation of a public school 
in Manhattan by the Bureau of Municipal Research, 
which found by reporting 18 recitations stenographically, 
that teachers were doing the thinking and talking rather 
than the pupils ; teachers used 18,833 words ; pupils 
5,675, with 420 one-word responses, 208 one-sentence 
responses, and only 20 extended replies. There were 
622 ' what,' ' when,' and ' where ' questions, and but 
138 ' why ' or ' how.' Similarly, Stevens, '12, by sten- 
ographic reports of 20 random New York classes of 
20-40 pupils, found 64 per cent of the spoken words 
teacher activity and but 36 per cent of the spoken words 
divided among pupils. Different classes varied from 116 
to 206 questions and answers in a forty-five minute 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 349 

period. In 6 history lessons, the percentage of questions 
involving judgment ranged only from 5-27. In a group 
of seven classes averaging fewer than 90 questions, 63 
per cent were memory questions repeating the textbook, 
in nine other classes, 73 per cent. Horn, '15, in Teachers 
College Record prints stenographic reports, and Farmer, 
'14, made use of them in his survey of Wisconsin Normal 
Schools." 1 

In all such work the teacher should feel that it is for 
his benefit that reports are being made rather than for the 
purpose of checking him up. The same kind of work 
is being done in almost every line of human activity 
to-day. It is one of the ways of allowing teachers or 
other workers to see themselves as others see them. 

Explanations and Exercises for Single Children or 
Small Groups. Whenever it is necessary to take con- 
siderable time to explain something to an individual or to 
a small group, the remainder of the class should be as- 
signed something definite to do and the explanation made 
only to those who need it. Of course, when the explana- 
tion to the individual is one which everyone else needs, 
time will be saved by requiring all to give attention. In 
this case it should be thoroughly understood that the 
teacher's explanation is meant for all. 

When there are several individuals who are so much 
in advance of the group that they do not need an explana- 
tion which is necessary for the majority, they should be 

^ Micromotion Applied to Education, Douglas and Dealey, Ped. Sem. 
June, 1916. 



350 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

given other work while this explanation is going on. 
In arranging this work the teacher must put off special 
explanations until the close of the period unless they are 
of such short duration that those who do not need them 
may be engaged upon the regular work at this time. 

Illustrations : 

Arithmetic. Seventh grade lesson in interest. 

The lesson is an introductory one in this subject and the 
problem of the teacher is to explain how to find the interest 
at any or several different rates for one year. This will be 
followed later by explanations involving years and months, 
and still later, years, months, and days. 

The problem before the class is to find the interest on 
$600.00 for 1 yr. at 7%. 

The first question of the teacher, after stating the problem, 
is, ''How many are sure that you already know how to solve 
this problem?" 

Five of a class of thirty raise their hands. They are 
told that they may work a type problem at the board. The 
teacher selected this problem before the class began. The 
children pass to the board, and the teacher makes his explana- 
tion to the group that is left. 

At the close of the explanation all those who understand 
it are given a like problem to work at their seats. For those 
who do not understand it the explanation is repeated and 
they ask questions about the parts that they do not under- 
stand. 

By this time those who are at the board have finished. 
The teacher has selected several more difficult problems, and 
these more advanced children are told that they may go ahead 
and solve as many of them as they can. In addition, several 
drill problems in the four fundamentals, in fractions, and in 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 351 

decimals are provided for those who finish all the extra work 
in interest. The result is that no bright child is allowed to 
squander his time. The problem of dealing with children 
who are so advanced that they do not need any of the work 
described above will be taken up later in this chapter. 

The recitation soon reaches the place where all except one 
or two of the slowest in arithmetic understand the method. 
As soon as each one fully understands it, he is allowed to work 
upon the other problems which have been mentioned above. 

The teacher now has left only those who need more 
help than the majority. While all the others are busily at 
work he devotes himself to the task of explaining to these 
backward individuals. He has full opportunity to provide 
exercise and the type of help which will be most beneficial 
to them not only in helping them to solve the particular problem 
at hand but in developing initiative and independence on their 
part. 

Another illustration : 

Arithmetic. Mensuration taking care of difficulties found 
in the assignment of the previous day. 

Six problems had been assigned the day before. At 
the beginning of the recitation the teacher finds upon ques- 
tioning that, of a class of thirty, five children were confident 
that they had solved all their problems correctly. They 
were allowed to work upon more difficult problems or drill 
problems during the first part of the lesson while the assign- 
ment of the previous day was being taken care of. 

Children who found special difficulty with the first prob- 
lem were asked to solve it at the board. This was repeated 
with every problem. Only those who had difficulty with a 
problem were asked to solve it. As soon as any child had 
overcome his difficulties, he was allowed to work upon the 
drill or more difficult problems. 

In a few moments only those who were in critical need 



352 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

of help were left. The teacher helped them individually. 
He could rest assured that he was doing right by all the rest 
of the group while he was tarrying with one of these individuals, 
for they all were busy upon work which was suited to their 
abilities. If he saw that a child was merely making a mechani- 
cal mistake, he told him that his method was correct but to 
look for an error in calculation. When he found that a child 
was making a mistake in reasoning, the teacher worked to help 
him to reason for himself and did not merely aid him. 

To make sure that children who do not understand do not 
escape work by reporting that they have solved their problems 
correctly, the teacher may check the work. When he finds 
a child making a false report, he takes him to task individually. 
The children soon learn that it is to their advantage to make 
correct reports. 

The method illustrated above has many advantages. 
Formerly a common method was first of all to ask- — 
^' How many had trouble with the first problem? " then 
'^ How many 'got' it?" A child who solved it cor- 
rectly was allowed to copy his solution on the board. 
This procedure was repeated with each problem. Those 
who had been unable to do the work received no exer- 
cise but sat at their seats. Those who did not need this 
particular exercise did the work, which, indeed, was not 
real work since they had already done it once. After 
the problems were all on the board, the bright children 
who did not need the exercise (at least this particular 
exercise) were asked to " explain " their problems. This 
they did in turn, but what they said was merely the story 
of the steps they took rather than an explanation. The 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 353 

children who missed problems often ignored the entire 
procedure. It is certain that they profited little by it. 

Arithmetic. Learning the combinations in a lower grade. 

Papers containing problems in addition drills are passed 
around. Each child is given six problems which involve 
combinations he is supposed to have mastered. 

The teacher places some new combinations on the board 
and tells the children that as soon as each one is finished with 
the problems on the paper he may pass to the board and 
attempt those he finds there. Five different problems are 
presented in this way. 

Games have been arranged (dominoes, card games, games 
involving the drawing of numbers, etc. They all necessitate 
adding which involves the combinations to twenty.) The 
children are told that when any two have finished all the prob- 
lems on the paper and on the board, they may be allowed to 
play one of the games. 

In playing a game stress is placed upon the ability to play 
together without interfering with the rest of the group. It 
is also wise to arrange the drill and the advanced work so that 
the slow children will have opportunity to play the games. 
If all have the same kind of work, only the brightest in arith- 
metic will be allowed to play. This may not be to the ad- 
vantage of either the slow or the rapid children. 

By using variations of the above method a practice 
teacher in the Training School at Greeley, Colorado, 
taught more arithmetic the first year in fifteen minutes 
per day than was required for third-grade children in the 
state course of study. ^ The children were not pushed or 

^ The teacher in the ordinary common school should note that this 
result was obtained by a practice (inexperienced) teacher, time not exceed- 
ing 15 minutes a day. 
2 a 



354 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

hurried. Every means was used to keep them interested 
and happy. 

IndividuaHzation in other subjects : 

It must be admitted that arithmetic lends itself to such 
methods more readily than other subjects. In the con- 
tent subjects, as history and geography, individualiza- 
tion must be done in the assignment rather than in the 
recitation. In such subjects the recitation cannot be 
used to furnish exercise when knowledge is lacking. How- 
ever, the more advanced children may be allowed to 
recite in accordance with their abilities. The slower 
ones are likely to profit by listening to these recitations. 
In art, manual training, and in all subjects involving 
construction the work during the recitation or exercise 
periods should be entirely individual. Also such work is 
possible in written and oral English ; the child should be 
allowed to correct his own errors and to make his ex- 
pression more effective. 

Individualization in Assignments 

The study period is the ideal time for individual work, 
and when assignments are made they should be adjusted 
to the capacities of different individuals in order that all 
may profitably occupy their time. There is no need for 
that oft-repeated statement of the idle or bothersome 
child that he ^' has " his lesson. Assignments w^hich 
may properly occupy everyone should be made. In 
making them with this purpose in mind the teacher 
need not discourage slow or backward children. 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 355 

The Flexible Assignment. In dealing with any or- 
dinary class the teacher will find that there is much ad- 
vantage gained by a flexible assignment. 

Illustrations 

Arithmetic: Fifth grade assignment in fractions. 

Solve the first four problems. Anyone who is able to 
solve all of the problems will receive credit for doing so. If 
you do not solve all of them, explain on your paper why you 
did not. 

1. I bought seven gallons of gasoline at 20^ cents per 
gallon (the present price) and paid the clerk $1.50. How 
much change did he give me? 

2. Six yards of canvas at 27| cents per yard cost how 
much? 

3. John, Henry, and William have a garden. They sell 
$2.25 worth of beans. Henry, whose father owns the ground, 
is to get as much as both of the other boys. How much does 
each get? 

4. If I have ten marbles and give James three of them, 
what is the smallest fraction his share may be expressed in ? 

5. Muhiply 8i by 16. 

6. Divide $1.00 by 20 J to see how many gallons of gasohne 
a dollar will buy. 

7. How much per year does my car need for gasoline if it 
goes 116 miles on 9 J gallons and gasoline is 221 cents per 
gallon? I drive 5000 miles per year. 

This entire assignment is given here not only to illus- 
trate flexibility but also to show that the last problem 
may be made much more difficult than the rest, thus giv- 
ing full opportunity for any exceptional child to spend 
the entire time profitably. The problems are all of value. 



356 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

No child can justly complain that he does not need to be 
able to solve them, for they are taken from everyday 
occurrences. The children should be told that if they 
cannot solve a problem they should leave it and try the 
next one, provided, of course, they have applied them- 
selves to it in a legitimate way. They should not be 
allowed to escape the difficult problem, but should be re- 
quired to solve it before they leave the lesson. 

Illustration in History : sixth-grade class studying the 
colonial period assignment by teacher : 

"Yesterday we finished our study of the New England 
colonies. Today we shall consider the southern colonies and 
will take Virginia as a representative. Will you try to find 
out in what respects the colonists in Virginia were different 
from those in Plymouth? Look any place in your text where 
you can find materials. If you finish with the text you may 
borrow any of the books which I have selected and placed 
upon my table. They all contain information about Virginia." 

For an illustration of a flexible assignment in geography 
see the first illustrative assignment given in the chapter 
on The Problem Method. 

Adjusting Assignments to Individual Needs. In every 
assignment it should be possible for each individual to 
work out special problems of his own or to work to over- 
come his peculiar difficulties. There are two special 
features of such assignments. 

First, the especially able or more interested children 
may be given certain work to do aside from the regular 
assignment. In studying the history of the colonial 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 357 

period, a child who is capable of doing so may work out 
special problems and report on them to the class, or he 
may read widely in biography and other literature related 
to the events of these times. In geography he may read 
and report books on travel, commerce, or industries. 
In written and oral English his work may range from 
writing lyric poetry and sonnets to the imitation of 
Stevenson. In no case is it necessary to allow a child 
to get the idea that there is nothing left for him to do, 
or that the school requirements mark the limits of legiti- 
mate efforts. It is little to be wondered that children 
should sometimes think that only the work of x the regu- 
lar course of study is worth while in their educations 
when school authorities so often take this very stand. 

The second move in adjusting assignments to individual 
needs is accomplished by pointing out special places 
where the individual is weak and allowing him to over- 
come such weaknesses as a part of the fulfillment of 
regular assignments. Such work has been described in 
detail in the chapter on Motives. Let us consider ex- 
amples of this kind of work in a regular school system 
in Wichita, Kansas.^ In that city the experiment was 
tried of checking the individual's mistakes in spelling, 
phonics, arithmetic, and other drill work. In the regu- 
lar assignments he was directed to work on his special 
difficulties. It is reported that rooms in which this 
work was done made from two to twenty times the 
gains made by rooms which worked in the regular way. 
^ Elementary School Journal, October, 1917. 



358 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

When the study of the special needs of different indi- 
viduals is made a definite part of the teacher's plan, he 
has many live and constantly changing problems to en- 
gage his interests. The many-sided nature of the differ- 
ent individuals in a regular class can never be entirely 
known. Illustrations of just what the teacher should 
look for are furnished here merely as a suggestion for a 
method of procedure ; the special types of mistakes 
found will depend entirely upon the children who are 
being studied : 

English: Should the individual give special attention to 
full, direct, and clear statements; avoid '^run on construc- 
tion"; watch tense of special verbs as "has not come," "I 
saw," "I did," and ''I have done," etc.? 

Arithmetic: Does the individual make mistakes in adding 
special combinations, as 9 and 6, and a number, 7 and 6, 
etc. ; in long division when a trial divisor is necessary ; in 
placing the decimal point in division ; in reading problems 
correctly, etc.? 

History : Does the child fail to relate the different facts he 
has read ; show lack of concentration ; fail to remember the 
important and give his energy to the unimportant ? 

Spelling : Records should be kept by each child of the words 
he mistakes in all of his written work. Time should be given 
him to learn these. 

Writing: Analysis of the peculiar discrepancies in align- 
ment, spacing, letter forms, etc., of each individual, followed 
by practice by him on the special letters and groups of letters 
in which he is found deficient. 

If in all of this work the interest of the children is 
aroused to find and overcome their own mistakes, a great 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 359 

deal more progress will result and the work will be far 
less difficult for the teacher. Every lesson in every sub- 
ject may be made an occasion for each child to work upon 
some difficulty pecuHar to himself or to gain something 
necessary to his own advancement. During study periods 
the teacher often does his best work helping the individual 
to discover and overcome his difficulties. 

Adjusting School Requirements to Individuals 
Eliminate Time Factor. First of all the child should be 
given to understand that it is not how long he studies or 
remains in a grade that counts, but how well he uses 
his time and what he accomphshes. When a half hour 
is given to the study of history, no two of a group of 
thirty children can be required to master the same amount 
of work. The school must do one of two things in this 
connection. It must either make a definite assignment 
and allow those who finish it before the time is up to do 
something else, or it must enrich the assignments, broaden 
the course of study, and expect much larger results from 
some children than others. The elementary school is 
not guilty of many sins in adjusting the time factor when 
compared with the high school or the university. 

Definite Goal of Completion. In many subjects, es- 
pecially those involving drill, a definite accomplishment on 
the part of the individual should excuse him from further 
drill. The following limits are suggested as practical at 
the present time : 



360 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

1. When seventy per cent of the Courtis speed standard 
and ninety per cent accuracy in the four fundamentals of 
arithmetic have been reached. 

2. When mistakes are not made in the regular work in 
decimals and small fractions (or at least in ninety-five per cent 
of calculations involving them). 

3. In writing, when a score of seventy on the Ayres scale 
has been reached and it is evident that speed is not being 
sacrificed. 

4. In spelling, when the list in the Ayres scale is mastered, or 
when the individual does not make mistakes in his written work. 

With such a goal in view many children who would not 
improve very much in ordinary practice will work hard 
and reach it. In answer to the criticism that the school 
should never be satisfied with work which does not 
reach perfection one may say that the ability to use 
the mechanics of writing, spelling, and arithmetic is 
the end rather than mechanical perfection. The law of 
diminishing returns signifies that when a child practices 
writing, for example, longer than he needs to from the 
standpoint of utility, his time is being wasted. The 
returns he gets for his efforts are not in accordance with 
what he has a right to expect. He does not need the 
extra ability his teacher is making him acquire. The 
school authorities owe it to him as an individual to ar- 
range work for him which will be more profitable. 

Special Requirements in Special Cases. Special re- 
quirements should be made for persons who would be 
injured by being forced to take the regular course of 
study and meet all its demands. There are many 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 361 

children who are slower than average in arithmetic. 
They should not be retarded on account of their lack in 
this one subject. By promoting them and assigning 
special arithmetic work to them^ the school often saves 
such children from becoming repeaters^ and before the 
elementary school course is finished^ they usually acquire 
enough mathematics for success in life. Special defects 
in other subjects should be treated in the same way. 
Oral reading causes great difficulty to many children 
either on account of a halting speech or natural shyness. 
Its value is not so great that a child should be retarded 
on account of it. Such subjects as writing and spelling 
should never of themselves be sufficient reason for failure. 
The teacher should keep in mind the fact that a class 
is not a group of children all of whom have the same ac- 
complishments or who have all reached a definite point 
in all the subjects of the course of study. A class, in the 
modern sense, is a group of children all of whom are dif- 
ferent in all the subjects but who gather in the same room 
for administrative and social advantages. If retarding a 
child on account of one or two subjects is likely to in- 
jure him in several, he should be sent on. Little trouble 
will be made for an intelligent teacher in the next grade 
if he is promoted with the note that he needs special 
work in these subjects. 

Adjusting Classes and Groups 

During the last twenty years there has been marked 
improvement in our educational systems in meeting the 



362 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

problems of adjusting school machinery to children of 
various abilities.^ 

Promotion Made More Often. In order to make re- 
tardation of less injury to those who fail and also to al- 
low those who can go more rapidly full opportunity to do 
so, the school year is being divided into several terms with 
many opportunities for promotion. In the traditional 
school the child who failed had to repeat an entire year, 
and there was little chance for an exceptional child to 
work far enough ahead to finish two years^ work in one. 
With more frequent opportunities for promotion a child who 
fails may lose only six weeks or three months. His extra 
term is not spent in reviewing everything that he had 
the term before, but he takes the work which he needs 
in order to be promoted. He is not a repeater in any 
sense. He merely stays a short time longer in the 
grade. 

At present there are at least 214 cities in the United 
States which promote twice per year. There are 251 
which promote at any time during the year and are 
stressing the opportunity for gifted children to get along 
more rapidly than the average. Trinidad, Colorado, 
and Aurora, Illinois, promote four times a year ; St. 
Louis and Galesburg, Illinois, promote three times a 
year ; Stonington, Connecticut, promotes every ten 
weeks; Salem, Oregon, promotes every six weeks in 

* See Holmes' School Organization and the Individual Child. Worces- 
ter, Mass. ; and Woods' Provision for the Gifted Child. Educational 
Adm. and Sup., March, 1917. 



I^IETHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 363 

the elementary grades ; Mahoney, Pennsylvania, and 
Hutchinson, Kansas, promote by subject and pro- 
vide extra subjects for their gifted children. At least 
36 cities provide rapidly moving sections for gifted 
children. 

No school system is up to the standard of modern 
practice unless it has at least three promotions a year. 
I have given such a scheme the benefit of a three years' 
trial and find that retardation is practically eliminated 
by it. Most of the repeaters in the regular schools 
are injured by being required to repeat an entire year's 
work. When given the opportunity, only a very small 
per cent fail to make up in a three months' extra term 
what they have missed. They also learn a lesson which 
stimulates them to do better so as not to fail again. 
The old way so discouraged the child who failed and 
necessitated so much bad pedagogy, that his educa- 
tional career was in most cases ruined, and he was likely 
soon to be repeating again. Under the new scheme the 
few cases which are the result of inferior heredity or home 
environment will be made up for by the large number who 
are able to finish a year's work in two three-month terms. 
The acceleration will adequately balance the retarda- 
tion. It is very stimulating to the work of the entire 
school to have children who show the ability, and others 
who have failed but have made up their work in one 
three-month term, go on to the next grade. They are 
put upon their mettle. Those with whom they mingle 
in the next grade are also stimulated. The concrete 



364 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

results of good work are in evidence throughout the en- 
tire year^ for every child sees and recites with individuals 
who have obtained their rewards. 

Special Classes. In addition to more frequent pro- 
motions and the provision for promotion at any time a 
child shows capacity for it, special classes should be 
formed. At present a large number of cities in the United 
States maintain such classes in order to adjust the 
work of the school to the different individuals. There 
are at least 122 cities which are making such provision. 
Worcester^ Massachusetts^ maintains 20 such classes for 
gifted children ; Boston has 10. The superintendent of 
the Pittsburgh schools reported to Miss Wood's ques- 
tionnaire : ^ 

^' Our system provides for double promotions, elastic 
promotions, and for special classes within a school. These 
special classes are presided over by a coaching-teacher 
whose special function it is to help bright children and 
retarded children. The classes are not large. We try 
to limit the number which a coaching-teacher shall have 
in her room at any one time to eight. 

" At present we have 62 coaching-teachers in our 
elementary schools for which we pay a total salary of 
some $70,000. Our expense for the psychological clinic 
may total $5,000 more. We feel convinced that every 
dollar ive are investing in this department of our schools is 
an economy rather than an expense. Our board of educa- 
tion endorses it heartily ivithout a question J ^ 

1 Op. cit. 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 365 

Work of this type is being done in Salt Lake City, 
Denver, Fall River, New York City, and many other 

places. -r 1 r 

Specified Time for Individual Work. In a number of 
cities the school programs are so arranged that special 
periods for individual instruction are provided. At 
Ashland and Beloit, Wisconsin, and Galesburg, Illinois, 
a half hour each day is given over to it. At Racine, 
Wisconsin, a forty-minute period is provided in both the 
forenoon and the afternoon for individual instruction. 
In a great many Junior and Senior high schools super- 
vised study follows each recitation. During this period 
the teacher is supposed to work with individuals who 
need further assignments or special help. 

The Purely Individual Scheme of the San Francisco Normal 

School 

In San Francisco Burk has worked out a scheme which 
is purely individual in all subjects and extends through- 
out all of the eight grades. The methods of carrying 
out such a plan, stated briefly, are : 

1 The entire course of study in each subject for the 
eight years is planned and printed in a series of handbooks 
Explanations of every new step are included. Ihe child 
spends his time working out the subject matter instead 

of reciting. „ 

2 The teacher does not conduct recitations. Jle 
usually sits at his desk and when a child needs help he 
goes to his teacher for it. 



366 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

3. When a book has been completed, the next one is 
provided, and so on until the course has been finished. 

4. Reviews are provided in the books. If a child 
makes a perfect score, he may be allowed to skip some of 
the reviews. The child who finds difficulties takes more 
reviews. 

For the purpose of mastering a definite, prescribed 
course of study the scheme just mentioned is excellent. 
From that standpoint it is bound to receive widespread 
recognition. No school can afford to ignore the value 
of such a method. However, it is valuable only in the 
phases of education for which the prescribed course is 
designed. An equally important feature of education 
is the development of the individual as a social being 
and the uses of social cooperation and the social motive 
in his instruction. The purely individual scheme may 
be used in part of the work of any school but not 
in all of it. 

Suggestions for Common School Practice 

Some of the topics in this chapter deal with adminis- 
trative features which are not controlled by the teacher. 
This brings up the question : what can the teacher do for 
the individual if he is working in a mechanical school 
system ? The answer is this : he can approach the real- 
ization of his ideals by doing as much as is possible in 
each of the five ways suggested in the foregoing pages. 
The most fruitful results, however, are likely to come 
from : (1) the study of individuals, (2) individualizing 



METHODS OF ADJUSTING SCHOOL WORK 367 

recitations, (3) broadening the course of study for gifted 
children, and (4) focusing the appHcation of individuals 
upon their own needs. Even in the most extremely 
traditional school there is opportunity for good work 
along these four lines. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 

The Primary Features of Practice. There are five 
definite practical features of socializing instruction, and 
it is the aim of this chapter to assume the necessity for 
socialization as already demonstrated and leave out most 
of the theory. Concrete illustrations will prove their 
usefulness far better than theoretical discussions. 

1. The entire school should be socialized. 

2. Each room and grade should be socialized. 

3. The social method should be used in recitations as 
frequently as it seems to be profitable. 

4. The subject matter that is assigned should be 
selected from the community or have social value when- 
ever it is possible and profitable. 

5. In the regular lessons and in dealing with the chil- 
dren a close relation with the home and the life of the 
community should be established. 

In realization of all of these aims the teacher should 
understand that the fundamental principle in any social- 
ization is the value, stimulation, and help received by 
each individual when two or more are gathered together. 
We must bring this value to the front. As a result we 

368 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 369 

have the social motive, cooperation, and the gain from 
ideas absorbed through imitation, competition, and sug- 
gestion. It is possible to carry on a class without de- 
riving benefit from any of these advantages, but it is the 
business of the wise teacher to sociaUze the work and 
thus make capital of the natural resources which school 
and class work provide. 

The Socialization of the School 
A school may consist of from one to fifty rooms. When 
there is more than one room, the spirit and work of the 
children in the different rooms is improved by bringing 
about friendly relations between them. The children 
of a school should feel that they are citizens and mem- 
bers of the entire school as well as of their special rooms. 
When this ideal is fully reahzed, they enjoy going to 
school and do better work while there. There are three 
special ways of sociaUzing a school. 

I. Projects by the Entire School. There should al- 
ways be some activity in which the school is taking an 
interest. When something of this nature is provided, it 
becomes possible for every child in every grade to feel 
that he has a responsibility to the school and a definite 
opportunity to do something for it. 
Illustrations of social school projects : 
A thrift stamp campaign. In many cities the schools 
were provided with regular United States thrift stamps. 
In some places, for example in Seattle, the principals 
made the purchase of these stamps the center of a 
2b 



370 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

patriotic and saving campaign. At a certain time each 
day all the children who had brought money to buy 
stamps were sent to the office of the principal, who took 
charge of the sales. In this way he came in regular 
contact with most of the children. They soon learned to 
know him as a coworker in their campaign rather than 
as a disciplinarian. Some of the principals testified 
that this period became one of real interest to both them- 
selves and the children. The stories of how they had 
been able to obtain their money, as spontaneously told 
by them when they came to buy stamps, gave the prin- 
cipal valuable light on conditions in the homes and upon 
the natures of the children. 

Schools were not rated by the actual amount that the 
children saved but by the per cent of the enrollment 
which was regularly saving. A $200.00 a week school 
might not stand as high as a $25.00 a week school, for 
the first one might be only a sixty per cent school while 
the second might be a ninety per cent school. In this 
way the schools of the poorer districts were not hope- 
lessly outclassed. 

The many ways that children worked to help their 
school secure a large per cent of regular savers illustrate 
the true social value of such a project. Meetings were 
held to discuss ways of getting every child into the game. 
Plans were laid to provide work for the child who could 
not get money from home, so that he might become a 
saver. One boy brought a quarter to school and told 
his companions that he was going to buy ammunition for 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 371 

his rifle with it. They persuaded him to buy a thrift 
stamp instead. 

A bird house campaign. Several years ago the super- 
intendent of the St. Cloud, Minnesota, schools dis- 
covered that the boys in the city schools were killing 
birds with slingshots. After several futile attempts to 
stop it by conscientiously collecting all the slingshots 
brought to school and by regularly lecturing the boys 
for their wickedness, the idea of starting a bird house 
campaign was evolved and put into practice by the in- 
structor in woodwork. 

The plan was to have each boy in each school provide 
homes for as many birds as would accept them and to 
look after the welfare of any birds that would make their 
homes in his houses. It was only a matter of a short 
time until bird houses became one of the chief topics of 
conversation among the boys of St. Cloud, and he who 
dared injure a bird did so at considerable risk to himself. 

The project worked out on a large enough scale to 
socialize an entire school system. There is no question 
about its bringing the boys of the different rooms in every 
school into closer sympathy with each other and with 
the work of the school in solving the bird conservation 
problem. 

A school aquarium. At very little expense an aquarium 
twenty or thirty feet long by fifteen or twenty feet wide 
can be constructed in some protected spot on the school 
grounds. The chief expense will be the piping of the 
water. The children should understand that the aqua- 



372 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

rium belongs to them and that they are to care for it and 
the fish and animals in it. Each spring they should be 
allowed to take a day to fill it with water and the boys 
and girls should be encouraged to bring fish of all kinds, 
frogs, crayfish, clams, water spiders, salamanders, etc., 
to stock it. In the late fall, if the climate is such that the 
water would freeze to the bottom of the pool and so kill 
all the fish and animals, the children should be allowed 
to drain it and take the animals to streams in the neigh- 
borhood or to indoor aquariums. The important feature 
is the children's part in care, stocking, and protection. 
Many schools have aquariums which are cared for en- 
tirely by the janitor, and the children are warned to stay 
away from them. 

Other like projects are the beautifying of the school 
and grounds by the children, the planting of trees by the 
children on Arbor day, a school plan for special days, a 
school skating rink, etc. In . any undertaking of this 
nature as much socialization as possible should be brought 
about. The way these projects are often done does not 
bring about very worth while or lasting results. The 
following method of socializing and developing the 
Christmas spirit was used in the Francis Parker School : ^ 

School Socialization and the Christmas Spirit 

The following plan of utilizing the school shop has been 
used as a means of developing a broader spirit of Christmas 
among children, dealing with altruistic motives rather than 

1 Taken from The Social Motive in School Work, Francis Parker School 
Publication, June, 1912. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 373 

the selfish and personal, and using cooperative rather than 
individual methods. The constructive interests have been 
used as a basis, and the play element recognized by introducing 
the favorite character of Christmas, Santa Glaus. 

In every household in which there are or have been children, 
there are countless toys, dolls, books, and games in various 
stages of dissolution and disrepair. Many of these have 
outlived their usefulness in that particular household, but 
with the addition of a little spare time and ingenuity, together 
with a touch of color to brighten them up, they would still 
make most acceptable Christmas gifts to many a child in 
poorer circumstances. To utilize this repair work as a feature 
of our manual training a ^' Santa Claus Annex Shop" was 
established. 

It was suggested to some of the children that such toys 
could well be repaired in the school. Notice was sent to the 
parents that the school would undertake to put into good 
condition such toys as could be furnished. These toys would 
then be given to settlements in more needy parts of the city 
for distribution. 

The next step was to present the scheme to the pupils of 
the whole school in a '^ morning exercise." Upon reaching 
school one morning the pupils were confronted with the fol- 
lowing notices prominently displayed on posters in the main 
hall. 

Wanted — Wanted — at Once 

Wanted at once good workers in the following trades : 

25 mechanics — must have a good knowledge of auto 
repair work, aerial machines, boats, engines (both stationary 
and locomotive), clockwork motors, agricultural implements, 
wagon repairs, etc., etc., etc. 

20 painters — good at retouching. Must have experience 
in mixing and judging colors and be able to handle brushes well. 



374 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

20 surgeons — (in hospital) . Skill needed in grafting arms 
and legs and replacing new heads. Those with previous 
experience in either hospital or private practice preferred. 

10 veterinary surgeons — a good knowledge of the anatomy 
of dogs, Teddy bears, and horses is necessary. 

10 book repair men — neat and careful workers, able to 
handle needle and paste brush well. 

10 repair men for game department. 

20 wrappers and packers — wanted for packing and shipping 
department. Only neat workers need apply. 

1 foreman and 1 inspector wanted in each of the following 
departments : 

Mechanical Book Repair 

Painting Game Department 

Hospital Wrapping and Packing 

Application may be made in person or by letter. Steady 
work promised from now until December 20. Good Hours. 
Good Wages. 

(Signed) Santa Glaus. 

P. S. — This is my busy season, and I have appointed Mr. 
Wahlstrom superintendent of my Annex Shop at the Francis 
W. Parker School. Particulars may be obtained from him 
or from any of the teachers in said school. 

-Applications should be in by December 1. 

The value of the Santa Glaus Toy Shop was manifested in 
many ways. Aside from the thought of working for others, 
which was at the bottom of the scheme, the feeling of good- 
fellowship which pervaded the work was most noticeable. 
The kindly and sympathetic interest of the older boys who 
filled the role of inspectors and foremen in the struggles of the 
younger people in some difficult piece of repair work helped 
to unite the school. High school boys ''renewed their youth" 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 375 

and also discovered some interesting applications of their 
recent physics experiments while investigating the ''innards" 
of some mechanical toy. The children of primary grades 
were busy with paste pot and shears, and it would be hard 
to recognize in the gay and festive results of their labors the 
commonplace cardboard boxes which had been brought in 
for the packing of the finished product. 

Although there was a spirit of play in the work it was inter- 
esting to note the seriousness with which the pupils entered 
into it. Of no small value was the insight into industrial 
organization and subdivision of labor, which was appreciated 
by even the youngest worker. And underneath it all was the 
joyous spirit of Christmas, the knowledge that the work was a 
labor of love, in order that someone less fortunate might have 
his share of Christmas joy. 

2. Regular Assembly or Morning Exercises. When- 
ever there is a room in the building that is large enough, 
it should be regularly used for general assemblies of the 
entire school. By gathering together at regular inter- 
vals the children come into contact with each other and 
acquire mutual interests. When there is no room large 
enough, many schools use the hallway for assemblies. 
In the early fall and in the spring and summer they may 
be held out-of-doors. 

Such assemblies for elementary school children have 
long been a central feature of leading schools. In the 
Francis Parker School they represent a part of the reg- 
ular plan of education and are regarded by those in charge 
as being as important as any of the regular course of 
study work. 



376 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

The following is a description by the principal of how a 
school of from 300 to 350 pupils worked out a successful 
system of assemblies : 

" After reading of successful work of this kind in other 
schools, all the teachers and the principal agreed that 
some kind of regular assemblies in which all the children 
should participate would materially help our own school. 
We had a large room which was used for group activities, 
singing, meetings of parents, etc., and we decided to make 
use of this room for our assemblies. 

" At first we planned to have them once each week at 
the second hour (10 o'clock). Experience soon taught 
us that it would be wise to give a definite amount of time 
and demand that programs should be planned which 
would not take more than the allotted time. The period 
was finally fixed at from twenty to twenty-five minutes. 

^^ In schools which had described their programs in 
booklets and in magazine articles the following features 
had been stressed : (l) informality of discussions and 
programs, (2) programs planned by the children who 
volunteered of their own accord, (3) some regular phase 
of the school work should be presented rather than 
spectacular materials of the old rhetorical nature, and 
(4) as many children as possible of the room performing 
should take part rather than a few who had special 
abilities. 

" In beginning our work we soon found that we could 
not count on an assembly once per week and comply with 
the four ideals of the preceding paragraph. Yet those 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 377 

who were doing such work declared that these ideals were 
absolute essentials, and, furthermore, they maintained and 
illustrated by pictures and otherwise that they were suc- 
cessful in realizing them. 

^' As a compromise we decided not to give up the as- 
semblies because we could not come up to the regulations 
for ideal work, and we went ahead as best we could. 
After waiting for someone to volunteer to give a program 
until two assemblies were missed, the principal went to 
the different teachers and told them to work out something, 
no matter how ^ ordinary,' and be ready to present it. 
He drafted a fourth grade for the next week. The as- 
sembly came in due time. The fourth grade appeared. 
All the ' ideals ' were violated. The program was very 
formal. The children sang some songs which, it must be 
admitted, came from their music work. A composition 
was read by the best pupil in the room (violating rule 
No. 4). A declamation was given by a girl who liked 
to declaim, and a violin solo, which was encored, finished 
the program. 

'^ However, this was a beginning. Room followed 
room, the programs usually quite stiff and formal. It 
was useless to attempt to get the children to act ^ nor- 
mal ' when performing before a crowd of three hundred 
of their companions, all the teachers, and usually a number 
of parents. 

" The scheme was continued for three years. Grad- 
ually we began to approach our ideals. Our programs 
became less and less rigid. After long experience both 



378 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

the teachers and the children became expert at discover- 
ing features of regular school work which made splendid 
exercises for the assemblies. The tendency of the prin- 
cipal to omit meetings on account of lack of material gave 
place to the regular maintenance of the assemblies twice 
instead of once per week. The children from the different 
rooms would go to him and volunteer something for their 
room. Finally, there were always five or six rooms on 
the waiting list. The programs gradually improved. 
More of the mothers came. There were many programs 
which could be definitely pointed to as stimulating bet- 
ter work in the various school subjects both on the part of 
the children who gave the programs and those who looked 
on. The assembly was regarded by the children as a 
bright part of their school work. Many times the prin- 
cipal overheard children of the various grades make 
mention of the fact that this was the ' day for the as- 
sembly.' Their attitudes and voices indicated that they 
prized it highly." 

This is a very good description of what may be ex- 
pected in any school which tries to have informal or social 
assemblies without any previous experience in the work. 
Even after three years the principal of the school men- 
tioned above felt that the work would be improved with 
more time and attention. The programs varied in their 
perfection in reaching his standards. After three years 
some of them were rated very low. But with experi- 
ence the majority of the programs became better, and the 
three years' trial was decidedly profitable. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 379 

Illustrative Programs : 

Fifth-grade geography. The school had been able to 
obtain for its geography museum a set of samples of partly 
completed shoes. Some were merely soles ; others varied 
from this all the way to the completed shoe. The children 
made a study of a shoe factory and ascertained just how the 
different parts were made. They learned of the piece work 
system, how each worker does only a very small part of the 
work in making the shoe. They arranged a visit to a shoe 
factory for assembly. Several of their number were chosen 
for workers. One was the manager. Another was a visitor. 
The last named visited the ''factory," and as the "manager" 
showed her the different steps in making the shoe, the "work- 
man" explained it to her so that everyone in the room could 
understand it. The several (eight or ten) stages of maldng a 
shoe were very well explained. 

Eighth-grade hygiene. The children of the eighth grade 
were learning practical hygiene. They decided to give a 
demonstration before the assembly. They chose one of their 
number who would represent the "nurse" who was instructing 
them. She called upon them to illustrate how to tie the 
different bandages ; how to put out the blaze if one's cloth- 
ing caught fire; how to figure out antidotes for poisons and 
what to give for emetics ; how to sterilize and care for different 
wounds ; how to care for the finger nails and the teeth. This 
was a very interesting and instructive program. 

First-grade arithmetic. A first-grade class which had been 
doing some especially good work in arithmetic, gave an ex- 
hibition in the assembly. They discussed the different com- 
mon weights and measures and their uses. They took up 
the pieces of money and showed how well they knew them. 
They made change with five, ten, and twenty-five cent pieces. 
They did some very good work in addition and multiplication 



380 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

and finished by playing some games involving addition. The 
rest of the school was intensely interested in seeing the little 
children perform. This program was much more interesting 
than speaking and singing would have been, although these 
two forms of expression are valuable enough when not over- 
worked. After this program a boy in the third grade who did 
not do his arithmetic very well was heard to say to another, 
''We had better get busy. Some of those little 'kids' can do 
better than some of us.'' 

Sixth-grade history. The sixth grade planned to dramatize 
the history of Plymouth Colony for the assembly. They 
worked for two weeks during the regular history period ; wrote 
their play ; made the costumes of cardboard, paper, and cheap 
cloth ; staged and presented it to the rest of the school. It was 
a great success. 

Sixth-grade book club. In their English work the sixth 
grade had formed a book club. They had their officers who 
presided at different class periods. They read and discussed 
good books as a part of their English work. For an assembly 
a meeting of this club was staged. The president presided. 
The secretary read some very interesting minutes from the 
last meeting. Different members reported upon books that 
they had read during the previous month. Discussions of 
these books by the club followed. The entire program was 
quite interesting. It represented excellent rules of order. The 
books discussed were quite worth hearing about. Children in 
other grades checked some of these from the library as a result. 

Second-grade rhythm work. The second grade had been 
doing a great deal of rhythm work. In this they had learned 
many excellent folk dances. At an assembly they went through 
them for the rest of the children, who showed a decided interest. 

Other special work. The assembly was used to stimulate 
patriotic sentiment. Each room was urged by the principal 
to master as many of the patriotic songs as possible and to be 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 381 

able to sing all the words without books. Plans for the entire 
school were presented here. Announcements were made by 
children of different rooms of special work in their rooms or 
of interesting, patriotic, or educational meetings or shows 
that were going on in town. At rare times general discipline 
was discussed. It does not pay to take up much time in these 
assemblies either for announcements or instructions by the 
principal or teachers. 

One of the happy results of this and other socialization 
in this school was the attitude of social independence 
which it developed inthemajority of the children. When- 
ever one was transferred to another school, he became the 
social leader and the " star " in entertainments. 

Persons visiting the school noted especially the able 
presentations of ordinary subject matter by children. 

The vital points for the principal or teacher who is con- 
sidering putting such a scheme into practice are the 
four ideals towards which the school worked. The fact 
that they were only partially realized after three years 
must be remembered. As stated in other chapters — and 
it cannot be repeated too often — most things that are 
worth while in the improvement of a school must be 
worked for and seldom come until after considerable 
lapse of time. They must be evolved. 

3. Cooperation and Interroom Interests. The gen- 
eral assemblies which have just been described will serve 
to interest the children of one grade in what is going on 
in another. Other ways of cooperation and stimulation 
between rooms should be used whenever |.rofitable. 
Some special ways of bringing this about might be these : 



382 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

(1) Children from one room may visit another. It is 
usually best for the class to elect two or three children 
whose work will not suffer from such a visit. They come 
back and report the interesting things that they have 
seen, and the children discuss features of the other room 
which might be employed to advantage by themselves. 
In some of the schools of Seattle children visit another 
building. When they return, they report in the same 
way as described for different rooms. This practice, if 
intelligently supervised by the teacher, will develop a 
better attitude on the part of the children towards the 
work of their own room. 

(2) Good w^ork which is done in one room may be sent 
to another for inspection by the children. A child who 
has written an extra good composition or who has made 
an interesting and important discovery may go to another 
room and read or report to the children there. In oral 
English the children in the upper grades may practice 
telling stories in order that they may tell them interest- 
ingly to children in the lower grades. In written English 
the children in one room may write letters to those in 
another room. 

(3) Comparative improvement in regular subjects. If 
the principal will have made, every two or three months, 
charts which show the percentage of improvement dif- 
ferent rooms are making, they will be a direct cause for 
better work. The charts should show speed and ac- 
curacy in the fundamentals of arithmetic, the number 
of mistakes per page made in written work (not only in 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 383 

English but in other subjects), the percentage of im- 
provement in speUing (both in spelhng exercises and in all 
written work). Children will be made to see that their 
slovenly work causes the per cent of improvement in their 
entire room to fall. It is best not to make too much of 
such comparisons because there may be a number of 
causes for lack of percental improvement. The teacher 
and the children may be unable to make large improve- 
ments because of natural obstacles over which they 
have no control. For illustration, the improvement in 
long division should be relatively much larger in the 
fourth and fifth grades than in any of the other grades, 
the natural abilities of the children in one room may be 
greater than those in another, etc. If these comparisons 
are made too often and are stressed very much, they may 
lose their force. The ideal way is to use them but to 
consider that they are only one small factor among many 
others in the improvement of school work. 

(4) Everyday or weekly exhibits. In some schools a 
large burlap bulletin board is hung just outside the door 
of each room. Upon this are posted exhibits of good 
work that is being done in the room. Any written work, 
drawing, or clippings of interest to the children of the 
room may be pinned to the burlap. A list of good books 
that have been read by one or by several children may be 
posted here. This serves to give the children of other 
rooms, the teachers, the principal, or anyone who might 
pass the room an idea of some of the important projects 
that are being stressed in the room at that time. Such 



384 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

work should be changed at regular intervals, and as 
many children as possible should be represented during 
the year. 

The effectiveness of any of these four measures in 
bringing about larger interests and better work will de- 
pend upon the seriousness and tenacity with which they 
are undertaken. Often they prove very useful for a 
few weeks. Then they are neglected by both teacher 
and pupils and become merely a form. Such schemes 
are worthless unless someone is behind them to breathe 
life into them. 

The Socialization of the Room 

Using the Natural Advantages of a Group. When- 
ever a group of persons gathers, a situation with poten- 
tially high educational value is created. The problem of 
the teacher is to realize upon the natural capital which the 
class or grade system provides. 

Some of these advantages may be used as follows : 

(1) Each child should be made to feel that he is a part 
of a distinct social group to which he must be loyal. He 
can, first of all, be loyal only if he is doing his best to 
make a good record for his room in the regular school 
work. 

(2) As a part of the group which makes up the ^^room," 
each child should be interested in everything that is going 
on there. As citizens of this special group he and his 
fellows feel responsible for the success of the room. They 
stimulate and cooperate with each other. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 385 

Group Loyalty. As an illustration of the power of 
group loyalty when applied to a room, an experiment in 
the University Heights School, Seattle, Washington, 
might be cited. At the beginning of the year the teacher 
gave to the children as their central problem the develop- 
ment of a cooperative and helpful spirit in the room. 
At the end of the year the principal asked for a report 
from the children. In it they were to tell of the different 
ways in which they had improved during the year. With- 
out special attention being called to it by the teacher 
every paper mentioned " loyalty to the room." One of 
these papers is given here : 

University Heights School 
Oct. 31, 1917 Clarence B . . . 

Language, Eighth B. 

Dear Mr. Metsker : 

I have accomplished quite a bit in this 
quarter, but I have not accomplished enough. The greatest 
thing I think I have accompUshed is to help others when they 
need help and to be loyal to the room. I have learned how 
to do mental arithmetic which will be a great help to everyone 

I expect to become better in everything within the next 

quarter. 

Smcerely yours, 

Organizing a Room. In organizing a room of children 

to secure cooperation in helping everyone in the group 

make a larger success, the teacher should stress the fact 

that what is being required and what is being accom- 

2c 



386 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

plished are a part of the work of the group. They are to 
feel responsible for it. They do not owe it to the teacher 
to succeed in their work or to do their best in accomplish- 
ing any of the aims of the work. They owe it to the 
group. Thus, when a child has not acted as he should 
on the playground; in passing in and out of the room, or 
in any of the regular work, he and the group are made to 
feel that he has not been loyal to them. 

Below the fifth grade such a situation is difficult to 
create. In the grades above this a wise teacher will 
have little difficulty in making large use of such a scheme. 
It has a much more wholesome effect than a plan which 
requires the teacher to carry all responsibility. In 
work of this nature the teacher must always be ready to 
step in and prevent group action from injuring any in- 
dividual unduly, or from bringing about what would not 
accord with the ideals of the school. Such a scheme must 
be regarded as one in which children are stimulated to 
work as a group by a teacher always in the background. 
They do not compose an " independent government." 
The teacher is merely using their growing sense of loyalty 
in educating them. In developing loyalty children are 
being helped as much as they are by ordinary school 
^^ subjects." An eighth grade organized to solve the fol- 
lowing problems for the year : 

To see that no one in the room should fail to be pro- 
moted. 

To come into and out of the school in good order without 
the teacher watching them. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 387 

To keep the room as neat as possible at all times and 
to make it more beautiful. 

To have regular meetings one hour per week to dis- 
cuss methods of doing the work of the room in a better 
way and to consider problems which may arise during the 
week. 

Officers should be chosen by the class rather than by 
the teacher. Their terms should be shorty and the teacher 
should see that they seriously perform their duties. 

Morning Exercises for the Room or Grade. Special 
exercises within each room are just as important as the 
assemblies for the entire school, which have been described 
earlier in this chapter. Regular morning exercises at 
least two times each week in which children and teacher 
cooperate to do something of value will be a big aid in 
socializing the room. In schools which do not have rooms 
large enough for general assemblies such exercises are 
still possible for each room. Even when there are regu- 
lar assemblies of the entire school, each room should 
have its own regular morning exercises. The essential 
points in properly developing these exercises for social- 
izing advantages are : 

(1) The children must be made to feel that they are 
managing this period. The teacher is their adviser. 

(2) Every pupil in the room should regularly take 
part in the programs in order that each may have his 
turn at appearing before his fellows. No child should 
develop the attitude of a spectator. Each must feel 
that he is a part of the organization. 



388 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

(3) The regular work of the room should play a large 
part in the programs. 

The city of Indianapolis publishes for its teachers the 
following list of books which furnish materials and 
suggestions for this work. They are most valuable 
in the lower grades where the teacher should play the 
leading role. 

Books Helpful for Opening Exercises 

Baldwin, James : American Book of Golden Deeds. 
Bailey, Carolyn, and Lewis, Clara M. : For the Children's 
Hour. 

Bryant, Sara Cone : Best Stories to Tell Children. 

How to Tell Stories to Children. 
Beeson, Katherine : The Child's Calendar Beautiful. 
Bellamy and Goodwin : Open Sesame. 
Cabot, Ella Lyman : Ethics for Children. 
Coe, Fanny : The Louisa Alcott Story Book. 
Comegys : Primer of Ethics. 
Coates : Children's Book of Poetry. 
Everett, C. E. : Ethics for Young People. 
Firth, Abraham : Voices of the Speechless. 
Gow : Good Morals and Gentle Manners. 
Harrison, Elizabeth : In Storyland. 
Johonnot, James : Stories of Heroic Deeds. 
Lewis, Prudence : The Golden Hour 
Lindsay, Maud : Mother Stories. 

More Mother Stories. 
Lambert, W. H. : Memory Gems in Prose and Poetry. 
Marden, O. S. : Success. 

Winning Out. 
McMurry, Lida B. : Classic Stories for Little Ones. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 389 

Poulsson, E. : In the Child's World. 

Bible Stories. 
Spyri : Heidi 

Sneath, Hodges, Stevens : The Golden Rule Series. 
Seelye, Julius H. : Duty. 
Smiles, Samuel : Character. 
Self Help. 
Duty. 
Wiggin, Kate D., and Smith, N. A. : The Story Hour. 

The Posy Ring. 
Golden Numbers. 
Yonge, Charlotte : Golden Deeds. 

The Socialized Recitation 

Characteristics and Purposes. The socialized recita- 
tion is characterized by the large amount of activity by 
the class and the position of the teacher in the background 
rather than as the central figure. The subject matter of 
the lesson is so planned by the teacher that the children 
take it up in a natural way as a project or problem which 
they as a group must work out. A great deal of stress 
is placed upon the independence and initiative of the 
group. The chief work of the teacher, therefore^ is done 
outside the class period. He is a stimulating and or- 
ganizing force in the recitation, rather than a leader. 

The purpose is to train children to work together 
through more activity on their part. In making the 
recitation less formal and more like any natural gather- 
ing the teacher does away with passivity. In its place 
come both physical and mental alertness and reaction. 
Originality is brought into play. For instead of listen- 



390 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

ing to their teacher or striving to answer a question in a 
way that would suit the teacher, the pupils take respon- 
sibility for questioning and answering. Another child is 
likely to point out a pupil's error or question him further. 
Thus, responsibility is developed. All of the powers 
that are exercised by this method are important to the 
development of the child. The old type of recitation 
tended to stifle them. 

Limits and Special Difficulties. In undertaking social- 
ized recitations the teacher of to-day has the mistakes 
and successes of others to guide him. The idea has had 
wide application with varying degrees of success. Some 
mistakes that were often made and were overcome only 
by experience can now be pointed out to the beginner. 

(l) In developing larger responsibility and more co- 
operation on the part of the children the teacher should 
not turn the class over to a ^^ bright " pupil who becomes 
a sort of teacher. (2) He should not allow the timid or 
sluggish child to withdraw from the work or become a 
mere auditor, but every means should be used to bring 
such children to the front. (3) The serious work of the 
subject matter should not be neglected, or any sort of 
pseudo-parliamentary drill be allowed to become the end 
of the organization. Recitations are socialized in order 
to take better care of regular school work, not to take 
its place. (4) In all of the work the teacher is a con- 
stant factor. The children should realize that the free- 
dom of the new order is theirs only if they use it 
wisely. They should feel that the teacher is always ready 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 391 

to help them. When the work is well carried out, one of 
the chief successes is that the children come to the teacher 
for help and suggestions rather than wait for him to 
start each new discussion or to ^' call " upon them before 
they recite. 

It is not profitable to use the so-called socialized or- 
ganization in every recitation and all the subjects. Its 
limit is reached whenever the social element ceases to be 
a stimulus for greater effort on the part of each individual 
or when cooperation is not as profitable as individual 
effort. With these two principles in mind it can readily 
be seen that well-designed socialization in a few subjects, 
focused upon vital elements, will be more profitable than 
an attempt to bring the social motive into everything. 
Time must be given the individual to study and to 
become independent. As in any other social work, in- 
terest, charm, and effectiveness depend upon wise appli- 
cation of the social motive to vital issues at the right 
time. 

Illustrations : Sixth-grade history. 

The Colonial Period. The teacher allowed the children to 
discuss each new lesson and choose the topics for the next day. 
However, she saw that the discussion was limited to proper 
topics and that only those which were worth while were voted 
upon. Being allowed to select their own work proved a de- 
cided stimulus to begin with. Often the discussion of the 
assignment made a very valuable and vital part of the recita- 
tion. 

In addition to a few general topics, the assignment usually 
consisted of special topics upon which different individuals 



392 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

volunteered to report to the class. Each of these reports 
was socially valuable because the child who made it brought 
information which the group desired and made a distinct 
contribution. The class had not prepared a lesson on the 
special topic and, therefore, did not know what the one who 
made the report was to tell. It is important that subjects 
that are both vital historically and interesting to the class be 
selected for these reports. 

Each report was followed by a discussion in which any 
child might take part. 

Fifth-grade geography. 

The teacher announced that the children might conduct 
their own recitations. The plan decided upon was as follows : 
The teacher and the class would choose a number of topics 
for the next day. The teacher called upon the first child. 
After his recitation anyone who had anything to add would 
stand. The last one to speak called upon another child to 
discuss another topic. The teacher kept in the background 
but was responsible. She saw that no ''cliques" were formed, 
that the discussions were kept on a high plane, and that the 
slow children were given due part. 

Eighth-grade literature. 

The class was reading Ivanhoe and formed a Walter Scott 
Club. At each recitation the officers presided. They read 
and discussed a regular portion of Ivanhoe as a regular part 
of each meeting. This was followed by stories from the life 
of Scott and the time in which he lived. Other books written 
by Scott were read and reported by different members of the 
Club. This class was conducted by an inexperienced practice 
teacher. The high interest, ground covered, and the pene- 
tration revealed in the discussions could not have been equaled 
.in an ordinary question and answer recitation. The teacher 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 393 

found it necessary to know much more about Scott and his 
writings than she would have needed to conduct ordinary- 
recitations. The members of the Walter Scott Club were 
well informed upon their ''favorite" author before the end 
of the term. 

Illustrations of Socialization Involving Competition 
Seventh-grade history. 

In the assignment the teacher asked the class to discuss 
the problem or problems they should consider for the next 
day. Each child was asked to look over the headings of the 
text and to contribute whatever he could to the discussion. 
They were at the beginning of the Civil War and the problem 
or project that was finally decided upon for investigation 
and discussion for the next day was ''The comparative strength 
of the two sections." With the help of the teacher they 
divided the larger topic into five divisions. There were five 
rows and each row was to be responsible for a division. The 
divisions of the topic were : 

Comparative populations, including numbers, capacity 
for war, etc. 

Agricultural resources, the crops of the two sections, their 
values, etc. 

Locations of the chief cities and the plans of the opposing 
forces. 

The arguments with which each side defended its ideas; 
their beliefs in success. 

The problems confronting the government as compared 
with those of to-day. 

At the end of the discussion the room was allowed to vote 
on which row did the best. 

This type of lesson was taken up each Friday during a term. 
The assignment was made a week ahead and the different 



394 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

rows employed their spare time in looking up material. The 
rows were scored 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the scoring being done by secret 
ballot following a ten-minute discussion in which different 
members of the class suggested scores for the different rows 
by noting the vitality of their discussions. This ten minutes 
became a very interesting and profitable part of the work. 
A sixty-minute hour was given over to this work and each row 
was allowed ten minutes. The assignment was usually a vital 
issue which had been already taken up. It served as a review 
as well as a special means of emphasizing the more valuable 
parts of the work. 

Eighth-grade history. 

Two leaders were elected by the class. They chose sides. 
Each Friday they took opposite sides of the room and the 
members of each side asked those of the other side questions 
from the work of the week. They regarded themselves as 
camps of opposing armies, and when a question was asked 
which the opponent could not answer, he was ''killed" for 
that ''battle." The two sides organized and "trained" for 
each battle. Every soldier was considered to have the same 
value as every other. Thus, the problem became one of 
having everyone prepared. 

The children who took part in this work soon developed a 
high interest. The teacher instructed them to ask vital 
questions which would require organization, rather than catch 
questions. When a catch question was asked, the child 
who was called upon could appeal to the teacher or "umpire," 
and if the teacher decided that it was unimportant and purely 
mechanical, the question was considered answered. 

This last feature was the part that made the work vital in 
developing the subject matter and the abilities of the children. 
Too often this kind of work is merely a contest on a low plane, 
because the teacher does nothing to elevate it. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 395 

More complex schemes of socialization in which an 
entire unit of subject matter is organized and worked 
out by a class may often be employed to advantage. In 
civics, for example, the class studies the home city by 
organizing as a city government. They hold an election 
and elect, according to regular form, a mayor and coun- 
cil ; these appoint the remaining city officers as police 
force, water inspectors, firemen (or fire chief). Each 
lesson is a meeting of this government in which the dif- 
ferent needs of the city and the duties of the different 
officers are discussed. If properly managed, such a 
scheme will lead to wide reading and investigation. A 
great deal of variety and vital subject matter may be 
added by allowing recalls, impeachments, and attacks 
upon different officers for not doing their duties. In 
all such cases the teacher should require that the 
legal requirements be met with. This furnishes valu- 
able subject matter that is functional as well as requir- 
ing worthy effort on the part of the children. The 
teacher usually finds that he must work hard to keep 
up with a live class the first time he tries such an 
organization. 

In arithmetic a class may study stocks and bonds by 
organizing as a corporation. In order to operate they 
become acquainted with the issuing of stock and its dif- 
ferent forms of sale. They learn to solve problems in- 
volving the different features of the corporation. In an 
oil region they may incorporate as an oil company. In 
another place they may organize as a banking corporation 



396 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

or as a trust. When properly managed^ such work 
furnishes splendid educational opportunities. 

Selecting Subject Matter of Social Value 

Relating the Course of Study to the Community. 

One of the best ways of vitalizing an ordinary course of 
study is to localize it. When properly socialized by 
being related to the social life of the special communities 
in which it is used, a course of study loses most of its 
deadness. In all the subjects of the elementary school 
curriculum it is possible to find connections with the 
life of the community. 

In arithmetic the usual course of study demands that 
the children master to a certain extent the four funda- 
mentals, common fractions, decimals, percentage, interest, 
and simple mensuration. In every community there is 
constant use being made of the essential elements of 
these topics. In the buying and selling transactions of the 
local hardware, dry goods, and grocery stores, necessity 
for the use of all of them is found almost dailv. The 

ft/ 

local banks, the county and city offices, and the local 
contractors, mechanics, and carpenters are constantly 
meeting all the different types of examples that are 
given in a modern textbook. 

The teacher can make capital of this social situation 
by using now and then some of these life problems. A 
local bank, the clerks of a store, or local mechanics can 
furnish, after a few days' observation, hundreds of such 
problems. These are often made much more interest- 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 397 

iiig and vital by selecting special problems which have 
caused trouble for persons in the community. Such a 
scheme has been used with success in some of the ele- 
mentary schools of Seattle, Washington. The following 
problems are typical : 

(1) Mr. (name of local merchant) sold the following bills 
of groceries last week. The teacher had the actual bills from 
which she dictated the exercise in addition. In the modern 
file system the bills are usually destroyed after a customer 
pays them, and a merchant will usually be glad to save a set 
of them for a teacher. 

(2) At the First National Bank the following notes were 
due yesterday. A half dozen such notes are assigned for the 
day's lesson in interest. A banker who knows the teacher is 
usually willing to tabulate a few such transactions without 
giving the names of the borrowers. 

(3) Mr. (local contractor) is building a house at 3547 17th 
Ave. The following are some of the problems he must solve. 
The actual problems are assigned for a lesson in mensuration. 

Problems involving special social situations : 

(1) Miss (local clerk) during the last month found that 
persons in this locality often know little about transactions 
involving fractions. In selling dry goods she found that 
customers demanded the wrong change in the following prob- 
lems. Can you solve them ? 

Any clerk can soon collect a good list of interesting and 
often humorous incidents of this type. 

(2) At the . . . grocery store the following mistakes in 
making change were made by customers last week. Can you 
correct them? 

(3) Local automobile firm sold eight cars on the install- 
ment plan last week. They were sold under the following 



398 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

contracts, involving payment as stated. What is the interest 
in each case ? What is the best way of calculating this interest ? 
(4) A few years ago Mr. (local person) bought a house on 
the installment plan and was told that he was to pay seven 
per cent interest. After he had signed his contract, the com- 
pany inserted eight per cent instead of seven per cent. He 
paid $15.00 per month until he had settled his debt of $1000.00. 
How much more did he have to pay than he had expected to? 

Such problems are vital only if not used to excess. 
There is no question about their good influence in mak- 
ing the course of study appear more alive and useful to 
the children if they are wisely chosen and used at psy- 
chological moments. Work of this type will place the 
arithmetic upon a higher plane, bring the children into 
contact with its values, and make it a more interesting 
study.^ 

In geography local conditions should constantly be used 
for comparisons. Every new step that is taken in this 
subject should be related to the community in which the 
children live. The following questions on France illus- 
trate this : 

An introductory lesson. 

In what direction and approximately how far is France 
from here ? 

How large is France when compared to the U. S.? Our 
own state? 

How is our government like that of France? How dif- 
ferent ? 

1 It should not go so far as to attempt to train children in all the mathe- 
matics of the different occupations. 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 399 

Name a number of articles in this community that came 
from France. 

How many of you are of French descent? Do you know 
anyone in this community who is French? Anyone who 
came directly from France ? 

Are there any products of this community that are likely 
to be shipped to France? 

If you read the daily papers, please note anything you see 
about France in them and mention it in class. 

Assignment for to-morrow : A woman who used to live in 
France and who is now a citizen of our town will talk to you 
about France. Be ready to ask her several questions. You 
will be judged by the intelligence and ability you show in the 
questions you ask. 

These questions are a few of a large number that were 
used to relate the geography of France to that of the 
local community. In the introductory lesson the children 
were, of course, unable to answer them in a very satis- 
factory manner. However, these questions and others 
like them made up a constant background for every les- 
son, and before the unit of subject matter was com- 
pleted the children knew France, not as a distant coun- 
try soon to be forgotten, but through living evidence in 
their own community and in relation to things going 
on around them every day. They read their text and 
reference books with specific purposes, and the subject 
matter was mastered in a way that could not have been 
brought about by ordinary assignments and discussions. 

In written and oral English the community can be 
drawn upon for the subject matter expressed. When a 



400 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

child has learned to see^ hear, and feel the life and ob- 
jects of his own community and is able to express himself 
effectively in regard to them, his education in English is 
near completion. To be able to understand and express 
in clear and interesting language that which he observes 
is the goal of all the child's efforts in the subject of Eng- 
lish. 

History must be vitalized in the same way. No mat- 
ter what history the course of study calls for, it will be 
appreciated more and remembered better if related to 
and compared with events that are going on at the pres- 
ent time, and which affect the community in which the 
children live. The following questions on the Revolu- 
tionary War, for example, may serve as a background 
and a constant aid in the study of this phase of American 
History : 

How large was our country at that time compared to its 
present size ? In population ? In territory ? In wealth ? 

How much longer did it take to cross the Atlantic Ocean 
than now ? How did this affect the war ? 

What means of transportation did they have? How much 
longer did it take to travel fifty miles than it does now? 

How was clothing supplied to the soldiers at that time? 
How is it supplied now? 

If England had won the war, what difference would it make 
to us now? (This question may be made very important 
if the teachers care to develop it in detail.) 

What do we owe to-day to the ideals of our forefathers who 
waged the Revolutionary War and established the principles 
of our government? (A question well worth working out at 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 401 

the expense of many of the detailed accounts of battles and 
campaigns.) 

How does the present British nation differ from the Britain 
which fought us at that time ? (In order to form the proper 
attitude toward present British relations with us this is an 
important question.) 

Nature study, civics, and hygiene are three subjects 
which may be made to take a regular part in the child's 
social life. He must learn to control and appreciate the 
nature that is around him. He must learn of the govern- 
ment of his community and constantly feel that every- 
thing else he learns about government should be applied 
to his own social existence. He must learn of health in 
order to apply it to his own living ; to keep his home clean 
and his body healthy in order to be a better citizen and 
not a menace to others. 

Closer Relation between the Home and the School 

A Plan to Care for Visitors. Both the school and the 
home are busy institutions. There is no doubt that 
principal and teachers have a great deal to do. Also no 
one of intelligence questions the many duties and bur- 
dens of fathers and mothers. The school must face 
the problem of linking these two institutions together 
for mutual advantage. Every school should have its 
organization to meet and care for visitors. By merely 
telling the parents that he is glad to see them and would 
like to have them visit as often as possible, a teacher is 
not likely to enlarge his list of visitors. There must be 
2d 



402 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

some definite plan for taking care of visitors. The fol- 
lowing incident will illustrate this : 

A certain school was trying to become a larger factor 
in the community and to be as helpful as possible to 
parents. The principal was especially eager that parents 
visit the school so that he could learn of their ideals for 
their children and at the same time drop hints which might 
bring about better home opportunities. A mother visited 
his school at a time when the principal was busy. He did 
not know she was there. It being her first visit, she did 
not know what to do. The vice-principal and several 
teachers passed her as she was sitting in an anteroom, 
but they seemed too busy to notice her. She waited a 
couple of hours. Then, feeling very much out of place, 
she decided to go home. It is needless to say that she 
never returned. 

In a large school this problem is often solved by in- 
structing those who frequent the office to be sure to 
approach any person who enters and inquire what he has 
come for. In case the visitor is a parent of one of the 
children in the school, all ordinary office work should be 
suspended for the moment and the greatest courtesy 
shown him. In a smaller school the children should be 
instructed to be courteous and helpful to all visitors, so 
that if a child should meet a father or mother in the 
hall, he should take the time and the pains to assist the 
visitor in the same way that he would show hospitality 
in his own home. 

A teacher should feel that whenever a parent visits 



THE SOCIALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 403 

he is under obligation to the same extent that he is to 
the child. He has an opportunity to help the child 
much more than he can by ordinary recitation and as- 
signments if he will make the parent sympathize with 
and understand the needs of the child. He can also 
learn things about the parent and home life which will 
make his instruction more effective. He should leave 
no stone unturned to make his visitor feel welcome^ profit 
by his visit, and resolve to come again. 

Visiting Days. Visiting school may be made a social 
occasion just as arevisitingthecircusorthe moving picture. 
If a visiting day is announced and social means are used 
to get the parents to come on this day, many of them 
will start the habit of coming to the school. They will 
talk about their visits to other parents and an attitude 
of sympathy toward what is going on there may be de- 
veloped. Of course^ the attitude that the parents take 
towards the school will depend upon what they see there, 
how it is interpreted to them, and how they are treated. 
To manage a visiting day properly requires a great deal 
of intuition, common sense, and planning. There must 
be both special and regular work. At least one or two 
regular lessons should be given. Then there should al- 
ways be special programs. A contest between the dif- 
ferent rooms to see which one can get the largest per- 
centage of mothers to attend will add interest and get 
results. The children should be stimulated to get their 
mothers to attend. It is often worth while to send an in- 
vitation to each mother. 



\ 



404 MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRACTICE 

In initiating such a plan a school should not expect 
any large success at first. The visiting day must be 
made a regular feature of the school work just as much 
as are the report cards. If a mother can be induced to 
come to the school, the results are likely to be larger in 
the way of cooperation than the report card will obtain. 

Parent associations are also vital and valuable features 
of cooperation when wisely managed. Their proper man- 
agement depends upon local conditions. 



INDEX 



Abstract association, 207. 

Accuracy, 236. 

Adult guidance, 101. 

Agassiz, 49. 

Alderman, L. R., 66. 

Answer books, 245. 

Aquarium, 371. 

Arithmetic, 94 ; age to begin, 281 ; 
accuracy in, 235, 243 ; a mechanical 
subject, 29 ff. ; individual needs in, 
356 ; assignments in, 244 ; based 
upon growth, 241 ff. ; business trans- 
actions in, 237 ff. ; community 
problems in, 35 ff. ; disciplinary 
value of, 241 ; drill in, 30; function 
of, 236 ff. ; individual methods in, 
350 ; lack of use of, 32 ff. ; life 
problems in, 31 ff. ; less sedentary 
methods in, 300 ; motive in, 78 ; 
problem method in, 29 ff. ; sociali- 
zation in, 331 ff., 397; value of, 30. 

Arrested development in arithmetic, 
276 ff. ; in geography, 275. 

Assignment, in arithmetic, 244 ; 
flexible, 355; individual, 356; 
longer, 46 ; mechanical, 16 ; prob- 
lem, 16. 

Audubon, 50. 

Ayres scale, 83. 



Bright child, the, 18. 
Burk, Frederick, 365. 
Business transactions 
metic, 237 ff. 



in arith- 



Civics, out-of-doors, 311 ; projects 
in, 47 ; socialization of, 395. 

Collection interest, 175 ff. ; as a 
motive, 181 ; educational values of, 
178 ff. ; in geography, 185 ; in 
history, 186 ; in nature study, 186 ; 
significance of, 177 ff. ; to be dis- 
couraged, 187. 



Competition, 329. 
Concrete teaching, 207. 
Construction, 175. 
Cooperation, 329 ; of rooms, 381 ff. 
Cope, Edward Drinker, 50. 
Correcting papers, 245. 
Credit for home work, 64 ff. 
Culture and recreation, 200 ff. 



Decimals, 239, 246. 
Dramatic interest, Ch. 

entertainments, 163 ff. ; 

154 ff. ; in history, 

hygiene, 165 ; misuse 

use of, 142 ff. 



VIT ; and 

in English, 
144 ff. ; in 
of, 144 ff.; 



Early development of children, 267 ff. 

Eliot, Charles W., 131. 

English, children's mistakes in, 229 ; 
dramatization in, 154 ; function of, 
213; interests in, Ch. VI; interest 
in oral, 126; interest in story 
telling, 127 ; interest in themes, 
123 ; mechanical demons of, 234 ; 
mechanics of, 223 ; oral, 213 ff., 
224, 226, 228 ; outline of functional, 
218 ; selection in, Ch. X ; sociali- 
zation of, 392 ; written, 215 ff., 224, 
226, 228. 

Entertainments, 163. 

Evaluation, 198 ff. 

Exhibits, 73. 

Failures in school, 208. 

Fluctuations in pupils' work, 209 ff. 

Formal discipline, 241 ff. 

Fractions, 239, 246. 

Francis Parker School, 5, 97, 142, 335, 

372. 
Froebel, 141. 
Function of school subjects, 199 ff. ; 

of spelling, 246; of writing, 262. 



405 



406 



INDEX 



Geography, 95; arrested development 
in, 275; collections in, 185; com- 
parative temperatures, 27 ; taught 
out-of-doors, 308 ff. ; problem 
method in, 23 ff. ; projects in, 59, 
01; rainfall and heat reports, 28; 
selection of facts to teach, 190, 
191 ff., 202; socialization in, 398, 
392. 

Great men, projects of, 49 ff. 

Group loyalty, 385. 

Growth, arithmetic based upon, 241 ; 
as a factor in learning, 208, 222 ff . ; 
course of study adjusted to, 224. 

Hall. G. S., 142. 

Health methods, Ch. XII ; aims of, 
199 ff., 201 ; and early effort, 205 ff. ; 
and home study, 270 ; and precocity, 
207 ; arrested development, 274 ff. ; 
in arithmetic, 279 ff. ; in motor 
subjects, 282 ff. ; in reading, 284 ff. ; 
the efficiency of, 200 ; popularity 
of, 207 ; with slow children, 273 ff. 

History, 90, 203 ; collections in, 180 ; 
dramatizing, 144 ff. ; flexible assign- 
ment in, 350 ; John Smith used as 
an illustration in, 148 ; as taught 
out-of-doors, 311; the problem 
method in, 39 ff. ; projects in, 40, 
57; socialization of, 391, 393, 394, 
400. 

Hofe, George D. von, 45. 

Home economics, 90 ; illustration of a 
common incorrect method in, 41 ; 
the problem method in, 38 ff. 

Home projects, 03 ff. 

Home study, 270 ff. 

Horace Mann School, 5, 45, 89, 91. 

Hygiene, 94, 105. 

Hypercritical view, 190 ff. 

Illustrative material, 22. 

Independence of children, 14. 

Indianapolis schools, 98. 

Individual differences, assignments 
based upon, 350 ; illustrations of, 
321 ; in school subjects, 358 ; recita- 
tion based upon, 347 ; requirements 
adjusted to, 359 ; methods of dis- 
covering, 342 ff. 



Individual methods, advantages to 
children, 320; factors in, 334; 
use in assignments, 354 ff. ; in the 
recitation, 347 ff. ; illustration of 
their use in Wichita, Kans., 343 ; sav- 
ing money for the community by the 
use of, 324. 

Informal attitude, 92 ; in arithmetic, 
302. 

Instincts, 90. 

Interests, use of, in teaching, Chs. V, 
VI, VII, VIII; adult guidance of, 
101 ; use of, as a standard, 107 ff. ; 
attitude of teacher in use of, 99 ; 
definition of, 8 ; employment of, in 
hard tasks, 105 ff. ; in English, 113, 
Ch. VI ; in investigation, 141 ; in 
opposite sex, 141; in poetry, 114; 
in school subjects, 112 ff. 

Kankakee, Illinois, public schools, 98. 

Laboratory as a home project, 50. 
Less sedentary methods, in arithmetic, 

300 ; school subjects taught by, 300 ; 

as tried with feeble-minded children, 

299. 

Mark Twain, his attitude towards the 
school, 77. 

McMurry, Frank, 95. 

Mechanics of learning, 10, 204; in 
English, 223 ; results of mechanical 
methods, 11. 

Mensuration, 240. 

Meumann, Ernst, 204, 205. 

Modern viewpoint, 0. 

Morning exercises, 130, 375 ff., 387; 
detailed description of, 370 ff. ; illus- 
trations of, 379 ff. ; books on, 388. 

Motives, 75 ; description of, 7 ; in 
arithmetic, 77 ff. ; in discipline, 

92 ff. ; in English, 84 ff. ; in reading, 
89 ff. ; in wnriting, 83 ff. ; psy- 
chological moments as motives, 

93 ff. 

Motor subjects, hygiene of, 282 ff. 

Nature study, use of collections in, 
180; taught out-of-doors, 311; use 
of projects in teaching, 02 ; the 
child's love of nature, 174. 



INDEX 



407 



Needs, use of children's needs in 

teaching, 75 ff. 
Newspaper as a project, 50. 
Noon periods, the proper length of, for 

health of children, 297 ff. 

Open-air schools, 304. 

Order of topics in project, 47. 

Out-of-door instruction, for healthy 
as well as for sick children, 304; 
civics taught out-of-doors, 311; in 
geography, 308; in history, 311; 
in nature study, 311 ; need of more 
out-of-door time for child, 303. 

Overlearning, time wasted by, 211. 

Overrationalization, 13 ff. 

Painting as a project, 70. 

Play, 96 ff. ; its part in the curriculum, 
293 ff. ; illustration of social develop- 
ment from, 294. 

Poetry for children, 114 ff.; composi- 
tion of, by children, 119 ff. ; educa- 
tional values of, 116; list of books 
containing child poetry, 117; read- 
ing and memorizing poetry, 116. 

Poor spellers, 248. 

Practical view in education, 1 ff. 

Practice as contrasted with theory 
and experience, 3 ff. ; modern ideals 
as applied in practice, 5 ff. 

Prizes for school work, 74. 

Problem method, Ch. II ; causes of 
failure at times, 20 ; contrasted 
with topical method, 42 ff. ; develop- 
ment of problem, 19 ; illustrations 
of problems, 16, 17, 19, 20; prob- 
lems in arithmetic, 29 ff. ; in 
geography, 23 ff. ; in histor5^ 37 ff. ; 
in home economics, 38 ff. ; results 
of problem method, 1 1 ; selection of 
points to emphasize in, 28 ff. ; 
illustrations of too much thought 
work, 12 ff. ; what to do when 
materials are lacking, 22 ; how to 
use problems with inexperienced 
classes, 21. 

Program, hygiene of daily, 211; 
illustrations of hygienic programs, 
292. 



Projects, Ch. Ill ; as used in the 
Horace Mann School, 45; com- 
parison of project and problem, 45; 
description of project, 7 ; use of, in 
socialization, 369 ff. ; home proj- 
ects, 63 ff. ; importance of project, 51 ; 
projects in civics, 47 ; in geography, 
46; in history, 46, 57; in mathe- 
matics, 46 ; in mechanics and 
science, 54 ff. ; in nature study, 
62 ; in woodwork, 54 ; of great 
men, 49 ; order of topics in project, 
47; reading for projects, 59; the 
wide scope of a project, 52. 

Promotion, the modern attitude 
towards, 362 ff. 

Psychological moments, use of, in 
teaching, 93. 

Questions of children, 14. 

Rational memory, 15 ff. 

Reading, beginning of interest in, 135; 
good taste in, 134 ; the hygiene of, 
284 ; illustration of the number of 
books a child may read, 137 ; im- 
portance of habit of reading, 131 ; 
list of authors for children's library, 
139 ; length of hygienic reading 
periods, 286; the proper reading 
materials, 288 ; motives in reading, 
89 ff. ; oral versus silent, 226 ff. ; 
hygienic position in, 288 ; protective 
reading methods, 286; age when 
child should begin, 285. 

Reavis, W. C, 331. 

Recitation, inadequacy of ordinary 
type of, 313; individualization of, 
347, 365 ; more extended recitations 
by pupils, 15 ff.; the number of 
speeches made by pupils in, 347 ff. ; 
conducting recitations out-of-doors, 
312; social-individual reforms, 315; 
socialized, 389 ff. 

Red Cross projects in school, 53. 

Relaxation periods, 292 ff. ; increased 
efficiency from, 296 ff. 

Requirements, adjusted to individ- 
uals, 359 ; in the common branches, 
368. 

Riley, James Whitcomb, 129. 



408 



INDEX 



Rip Van Winkle, dramatization of, 

157 ff. 
Rules for spelling, 252 ff. 

Saving school money by preventing 
failures, 324. 

School furniture which is healthful, 298. 

School-home projects, 68 ff. ; detailed 
illustration, 70 ; method of conduct- 
ing, 69 ff. 

Scientific collections, 181. 

Selection of subject matter, Ch. IV ; 
hypercritical view of school subjects, 
196 ff. ; the valuable points in geog- 
raphy, 190, 191 ff. ; in hygiene, 
190; traditional view of school 
subjects, 194 ff. ; the modern atti- 
tude towards school work, 198 ff. 

Self-improvement by child, 79 ff. ; in 
English, 86 ff. 

Smith, John, 148. 

Social aims in education, 200 ff. 

Social-Individual balance, Ch. XIV. 

Social interests of child, 141. 

Social needs as met by the school, 
336 ff. ; failure of school to meet 
these needs, 338 ff. 

Social stimulation, use of, in school, 328. 

Socialization of instruction, factors in, 
368 ; group loyalty in, 385 ; 
socialization in arithmetic, 397-; 
in geography, 398 ; illustration from 
Francis Parker School, 335-372; 
in the selection of subject matter, 
396 ff. ; interroom interests, 381 ; 
morning exercises as a socializing 
factor, 375; application to the 
recitation, 389 ff. ; applied to the 
entire school, 369 ff. ; in the in- 
dividual rooms, 384. 
Special classes for bright or retarded 
children, 364. 



Spelling consciousness, 247 ; function of 
spelling, 247 ; general difficulties in 
learning, 252, 254 ; methods of 
studying, 249 ; use of rules in, 252 ; 
lists of useful, difficult words, 256- 
262. 

Speyer School, 142. 

Standards in education, 107 ; in the 
common branches, 366. 

Surveys, 4 ; of projects of children, 
68 ff. 

Teacher, as inspirer rather than leader, 

14 ; developing the ability to 

organize, 21. 
Technical grammar, 235. 
Tenacity, necessity for, in realizing 

aims of modern school, 80. 
Textbook, proper use of, 18. 
Thackeray, 130. 132. 
Thrift stamp sales in school, 369. 
Topic method compared to problem, 

42 ff. 
Toys, educational value of, 174. 
Traditional influences in education, 

194 ff. 
Training schools, 3. 
Triplett, Norman, 328. 

Values, weighed by children, 18. 
Visitors at school, 401 ff. ; special days 

for visiting, 403. 
Vocational aims in education, 200 ff. 

Weather, problems taken from, 26. 
Wireless telegraph as a project, 48. 
Woodwork, 96. 

Words, lists of, in spelling, 256 ff. , 
Writing, factors to stress in, 263 ; 

need used as, a motive for, 83; the 

functional value of, 262. 



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